Volker Gerhardt is a professor emeritus of philosophy at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany.
He was born in Guben, Brandenburg in 1944. After studying psychology, philosophy, sociology and law in Frankfurt am Main and Münster, he obtained his PhD degree in 1974 on the basis of a Kantian dissertation on Reason and Interest.
In 1984, also in Münster, he earned his habilitation based on his work on the concept of power in Friedrich Nietzsche’s thinking. In 1985, Dr. Gerhardt was appointed to a professorship, and in 1986, he was a visiting scholar at the University of Zurich. After a position in Cologne, Volker Gerhardt accepted the offer to become the founding chair of the Philosophy Department at the University of Halle. Then he was appointed the head of the Philosophy Department at Humboldt University in Berlin. In 1998, he was elected a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, where he also served as vice president.
He was responsible for the research projects of the Berlin Academy as well as for the co-ordination of all research programmes of all Academies of Science in Germany. In Volker Gerhardt’s view, his most important research area is systematic philosophy. He has published several volumes on foundational aspects of philosophy.
Volker Gerhardt has been professionally related to the University of Debrecen for decades. Since 1998, he has offered courses to MA and PhD students both in the Institute of Philosophy and in the Institute of German Studies.
He has also efficiently supported visits by students and scholars from Debrecen to his university. In addition, a book he wrote on Nietzsche was published in Debrecen in 1998.
He was awarded the title doctor honoris causa of the University of Debrecen in 2010.
