Research interests

• Wittgenstein
• Epistemology
• Kierkegaard
• Philosophy of Religion

Current research

Genia has just been awarded a high-profile 2.5m ERC Advanced Grant for her 5-year research project entitled 'The Ethics of Doubt - Kierkegaard, Scepticism and Conspiracy Theory'. Core aims of the project are:

To bring Kierkegaard’s existential epistemology into dialogue with the contemporary mainstream, in particular in respect to the relation between the intellectual vices, such as a lack of intellectual courage, and various forms of scepticism. Although virtue epistemology is currently a booming topic, the connection between intellectual courage and knowledge remains entirely unexplored, both within epistemology itself as well as in wider cultural debates.

To examine the similarities between radical scepticism (the thought that we may know nothing about the world) and global conspiracy theories. Since radical scepticism is taken very seriously in epistemology, while conspiracy theories tend to be dismissed, this raises the questions: If something is wrong with global conspiracy theories, is something equally wrong with radical scepticism? Conversely, if we cannot dismiss radical scepticism, can we similarly not dismiss global conspiracy theories?

To apply Kierkegaard’s insight that knowledge requires courage to a central challenge of our time: loss of faith in knowledge, expertise and authority. Never has such an investigation been more pressing than in the current pandemic, which has given rise to an unprecedented surge in conspiracy theories and ‘fake news’.

The project will deliver ground-breaking results along three dimensions: historical (Kierkegaard’s existential response to doubt), theoretical (the relation between intellectual vice and scepticism), and applied (the relation between intellectual courage and knowledge scepticism in the wider culture).

Genia Schönbaumsfeld is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southampton who specializes in Wittgenstein, Epistemology, Kierkegaard and the Philosophy of Religion.

Before coming to Southampton, Genia Schönbaumsfeld studied Philosophy at St. Hilda’s College, Oxford, Trinity College, Cambridge and the University of Vienna. Genia has been a Visiting Fellow at New College, Oxford and a Visiting Professor at the University of Regensburg, Germany. From 2003-06 she held a prestigious ‘Hertha Firnberg’ research fellowship at the University of Vienna, awarded by the Austrian Science Fund.

In September 2023, Genia will be starting a new, 5-year research project entitled 'The Ethics of Doubt - Kierkegaard, Scepticism and Conspiracy Theory', for which she has just been awarded a high-profile 2.5m ERC Advanced Grant. The project aims to bring Kierkegaard's existential approach to scepticism and doubt into dialogue with mainstream analytic epistemology and to examine its implications for wider cultural debates concerning knowledge scepticism. 

Genia is the author of A Confusion of the Spheres – Kierkegaard and Wittgenstein on Philosophy and Religion (Oxford University Press, 2007),  The Illusion of Doubt (Oxford University Press, 2016), and Wittgenstein on Religious Belief (Cambridge University Press, 2023). She is Associate Editor of the journal Philosophical Investigations, Advisory Board member of The Nordic Wittgenstein Review and Editorial Board Member of Anthem Studies in Wittgenstein. In 2020 she was elected to Council of the Royal Institute of Philosophy.

Genia is an experienced PhD supervisor and generally welcomes applications from students seeking to work on scepticism, Wittgenstein, Kierkegaard or the philosophy of religion. Genia is currently unable to take on any new PhD students.