Research Training Group

Alexander Friedrich

Department of Philosophy
Technische Universität Darmstadt
Dolivostraße 15
64293 Darmstadt

Visitors:
Landwehrstraße 54
S4/24 | Raum 123
D-64293 Darmstadt

Tel: +49 (0)6151 1657482
friedrich(at)phil.tu-darmstadt.de

Please note: This webpage will not be updated anymore. My new academic webpage you may find here.

Research Project

In my research project, I study modern cooling technologies as a means of biopower. Mechanical chilling and freezing not only contribute to preserving and reproducing organic entities but also help to save, to improve, and to dispose of life. With the social implementation of artificial coldness in the late 19th century, the continuing development of cold chains to complex cooling networks, and the recent formation of the cryobank industry, a socio-technical formation emerged that I call the cryogenic culture. My study focuses on refrigeration-driven biotechnology – encompassing food production as well as assisted reproductive technology – as a fundamental apparatus (dispositif) of the cryogenic culture.

One of the crucial steps in the history of the cryogenic culture was the development of the cold chain that enabled modern societies to provide fresh food from all over the world, allowed urbanized areas to grow rapidly, and prompted urbanized people to change their consumption patterns and eating habits drastically, since food supply no longer depends on local seasonal, climatic, and agricultural constraints. Instead, modern life fundamentally depends on refrigeration now. This is true both in a broad socio-technical and a strictly bio-technical sense:

Socio-technically, modern life heavily relies on cooling systems which maintain facilities of energy supply, mobility, telecommunication, food supply, and accommodation. Thereby, the reliability of these systems has become a conditio sine qua non for the organization of modern societies. Malfunctions of such cooling systems can cause serious trouble, ranging from the disturbance or interruption of communication and transportation infrastructures to large-scale spoilage of food or even a nuclear meltdown.

In a bio-technical sense, nearly every aspect of life in modern societies is affected by refrigeration techniques: we cool environments, bodies, food, drugs, organs, tissue, semen, eggs, blood, proteins, and much more. The thermo-dynamical preservation of biological substances allows not only storing organic entities; it opens up quite new possibilities of producing, distributing, maintaining, and disposing of life as a resource – that is supposed to be kept fresh as long as possible. During the last century, mechanical refrigeration machines and corresponding actor(-network)s, primarily food companies, changed the meaning of ‘freshness’ – considered as life in its best, and therefore, most valuable form.

With the vast connection of cold chains to global cooling networks since the second half of the 20th century, three developments mark a new step in the history of the cryogenic culture: (1) the progress of assisted reproductive technologies due to the cryopreservation of germ cells, (2) the global-scale trade with organs, tissue and other refrigerated medical substances, and (3) the formation of the cryobank industry since the 1970s. By describing these developments from a theoretical point of view, I will argue that the inherent logic of this era of the cryogenic culture can be explained as a concerted effort to access the βίος as a controllable potential. Thereby, a form of governance comes into being which can be defined as modal biopower with refrigeration as a fundamental dispositif.

Research Interests

Philosophy of Technology
Theory of Metaphor and Metaphorology
Science and Technology Studies
History of Ideas and Conceptual History
Philosophy of Language
Network Theory
Phenomenology
Critical Theory

CV

Since April 2015 Academic Staff Member at Department of Philosophy, TU Darmstadt
Jan-Feb 2015 Visiting Fellow of the network Biopolitics of Science at the University of Sydney
2013–2015 Postdoctoral Researcher at the Research Group Topology of Technology, Technische Universität Darmstadt. Research Project: The Cryogenic Culture. Refrigeration as Biopower
2008-2013 Ph.D. in Philosophy as a member of the doctoral program of the International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture, Justus Liebig University Giessen. Doctoral Thesis: Im Netz der Metapher. Zur Theorie kultureller Leitmetaphern (Towards a Theory of Cultural Key Metaphors)
1998-2006 M.A. in Philosophy; Minor in Sociology and Comparative Literature az Chemnitz University of Technology. Thesis: Heideggers Auslegung von Hölderlins Hymne ›Der Ister‹ (Heidegger’s Interpretation of Hölderlin’s Hymn ›The Ister‹)

Publications

Monographs

Metaphorologie der Vernetzung, Paderborn/München: Wilhelm Fink Verlag 2015 (forthcoming).
Library Life. Werkstätten kulturwissenschaftlichen Arbeitens, with Friedolin Krentel, Katja Barthel, Anna Rebecca Hoffmann, Laura Meneghello, Jennifer Ch. Müller und Christian Wilke, Lüneburg: meson Press 2015 (forthcoming).

Journal Articles

"Die Zeit überlisten – Leben und Tod in kryogenen Zeitregimen", in: Jahrbuch Technikphilosophie 2016 (forthcoming).
"Frischeregime: Biopolitik im Zeitalter der kryogenen Kultur", with Stefan Höhne, in: Glocalism, Issue 2014, 1-2: Feeding the Planet. Energy for Life, DOI: 10.12893/gjcpi.2014.1-2.3.
"Philosophisches Heimweh. Eine metaphorologische Studie zur Phänomenologie Edmund Husserls". In: Journal Phänomenologie 41 (2014), p. 7-41.
"Meta-Metaphorologische Perspektiven. Zur technotropischen Geschichte des Metaphernbegriffs". In: Forum Interdisziplinäre Begriffsgeschichte 1 (2012).

Book Chapters

"Daseinsgrund-Probleme. Blumenbergs Metaphorologie als Kultur- und Technikphilosophie". In: Hans Blumenbergs Umwege, München: Fink 2015 (forthcoming).
"Vernetzung als Modell gesellschaftlichen Wandels. Zur Begriffsgeschichte einer historischen Problemkonstellation". In: Die neue Wirklichkeit. Bezeichnungsrevolutionen, Bedeutungsverschiebungen und Politik seit den 1970er Jahren, edited by Ariane Leendertz and Wencke Meteling, Frankfurt am Main: Campus 2015 (forthcoming).
"Spannungen, Brüche und Nähte im Gewebe der Sprache: Untote Metaphern als philosophisches und methodisches Problem". In: Zugänge zu Metaphern - Übergänge durch Metaphern, edited by Marie Lessing und Dorothee Wieser, München: Fink 2013, p. 29-42.
"Metaphorical Anastomoses. The Concept of Networks and its Origins in the 19th Century". In: Travelling Concepts for the Study of Culture, edited by Birgit Neumann and Ansgar Nünning, Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter 2012, p. 119-144.
"Vernetzte Zwischenräume". In: Bewegen im Zwischenraum, edited by Uwe Wirth, Berlin: Kadmos 2012, p. 55-74.
"Das Internet als Medium und Metapher. Medienmetaphorologische Perspektiven". In: Medien, Bilder, Schriftkultur. Mediale Transformationen und kulturelle Kontexte, edited by Annette Simonis and Berenike Schröder, Würzburg: Königshausen + Neumann 2012, p. 227-251.
"Metaphorology of Networks". In: Metaphors Shaping Culture and Theory (Yearbook of Research in English and American Literature 2009), edited by Herbert Grabes, Ansgar Nünning and Sibylle Baumbach, Tübingen: Narr 2009, p. 285-297.
"Wie öffentlich ist das Feuilleton?", with Jan Friedrich, Karen Werner and Nils Kasper. In: Was vom Tage bleibt. Das Feuilleton und die Zukunft der kritischen Öffentlichkeit in Deutschland, edited by Thomas Steinfeld, Frankfurt am Main: Fischer 2004, p. 165-169. Online available at perlentaucher.de

Edited Volumes

Journal Phänomenologie 41 (2014), special issue, edited with Petra Gehring and Andreas Kaminski.
Stimmen Mitteleuropas. Literatur aus Tschechien und der Slowakei, edited with Katja Barthel, funded by the Cultural Foundation of the Free State Saxony, comma 16 (2007).
Slowakische Anthologie, edited with Katja Barthel, funded by the Slovak Literature Information Centre Bratislava, comma.edition, Leipzig 2006.

Book Reviews

"On to the Boards, You Philologists! A Metaphorical Education in Moving along Information Floods. Review of Matthias Bickenbach and Harun Maye: Metapher Internet. Literarische Bildung und Surfen". In: KULT_online 24 (2010).
"Neither Metaphor nor Theory, but Method: Networks as a Transdisciplinary Concept? Review of Heiner Fangerau and Thorsten Halling (Ed.): Netzwerke. Allgemeine Theorie oder Universalmetapher in den Wissenschaften? Ein transdisziplinärer Überblick". In: KULT_online 22 (2010).

Teaching

2014 "Problem, Crisis and Myth of Modern Technology. Husserl, Heidegger, Anders, Arendt, Blumenberg", Introductory Seminar Course, with Suzana Alpsancar, Department of Philosophy, Technische Universität Darmstadt
2013/14 "Infrastructuralism of Freshness", research workshop and excursion, with Stefan Höhne (TU Berlin), Graduate Program "Topology of Technology", Technische Universität Darmstadt
2013/14 "Ancient and Early Modern Utopias of Technology (Platon, Morus, Bacon)",
Introductory Seminar Course, with Suzana Alpsancar, Department of Philosophy, Technische Universität Darmstadt
2013/14 "Technization: Models, Practices, Theories, Histories", Advanced Seminar, with Mikael Hård, Graduate Program "Topology of Technology", University of Technology Darmstadt
2011/12 "Philosophy of Language", Introductory Seminar Course, with Vera Stadelmann, Department of English, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen
2010/11 "Theories of Metaphor", guided reading group, Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen

Selected Talks

"The Cryogenic Culture. Biopower and Biopolitics of Freezing and Cooling Technologies", The Conversation, Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine, The University of Sydney, 12 Feb 2015.
"Social Freezing. Zur Biopolitik der kryogenen Fertilitätsreserve", interdisciplinary research group Topology of Technology, Technische Universität Darmstadt, 31 Jan 2014
"'Vernetzung' als Modell gesellschaftlichen Wandels", interdisciplinary conference Die neue Wirklichkeit. Bezeichnungsrevolutionen, Bedeutungsverschiebungen und Politik seit den 1970er-Jahren, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne, 23-24 May 2013.
"Blumenbergs Metaphorologie als Kultur- und Technikphilosophie", interdisciplinary conference Permanentes Provisorium. Hans Blumenbergs Umwege, University of Paderborn, 14-16 March 2012
"Vernetzt. Zur Logik kultureller Leitmetaphern", 36th conference of the German Sociological Association Diversity and Cohesion, Ruhr-University Bochum, 1-5 Oct 2012.
"Untote Metaphern als philosophisches und methodisches Problem", interdisciplinary conference Zugänge zu Metaphern – Übergänge durch Metaphern, Department of German Literature, Humboldt-University of Berlin, 24-25 Feb 2012.
"Das Internet als Medium und Phantasma", lecture Series Vom Pergament zum Internet: Medien- und Schriftkultur, Department of German, Justus Liebig University Giessen, 30 June 2010
"Von der Übertragung zur Figuration. Metapher, Analogie, Paradigma", interdisciplinary workshop Was sind Denkfiguren? Figurationen unbegrifflichen Denkens in Metaphern, Diagrammen und Kritzeleien, Free University of Berlin, 25-26 Feb 2011.
"Network Metaphors and Models in the 19th Century: Anastomotic Origins of a Modern Concept", international conference Conceptualizing Interfaces between the Sciences, Literature and the Humanities, University of Heidelberg, 8-10 May 2009.
"Metaphorology of Networks", symposium Metaphors Shaping Cultures and Theory, International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture, Justus Liebig University Giessen, 28-31 Jan 2009.

Contact us

Research Training Group
"Topology of Technology"
Technische Universität Darmstadt

Postal Address
Dolivostr. 15
64289 Darmstadt
Germany

Speaker
Prof. Dr. Petra Gehring
Department of Philosophy
gehring(at)phil.tu-darmstadt.de
Phone: +49 (0)6151 16-57333

Speaker
Prof. Dr. Mikael Hård
Department of History
hard(at)ifs.tu-darmstadt.de
Phone: +49 (0)6151 16-57316

Visitors Address Coordination
Landwehrstr. 54
S4|24 117
topologie(at)ifs.tu-darmstadt.de
Phone: +49 (0)6151 16-57365

Anne Batsche
Tue–Fri 10.00–15.00
topologie(at)ifs.tu-darmstadt.de

Marcel Endres
Mon–Wed 8.30–15.30
endres(at)gugw.tu-darmstadt.de

Visitors Address Fellows
Landwehrstr. 54
S4|24 106–112
Phone: +49 (0)6151 16-57444