Prof. Dr. Monika Betzler

Chair, Director of PPW Master Program

Chair of Practical Philosophy and Ethics, PPW

Office address:

Schellingstraße 10, 2. Stock

Room J210

80799 München

Send an email

Personal website

Office hours:

By arrangement with the administrative office (office.betzler@lrz.uni-muenchen.de)
Mondays 1 to 3 p.m.
Room J210

Postal address:

Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1

80539 München

Personal information

Monika Betzler is Chair of Practical Philosophy and Ethics at LMU Munich. She is a spokesperson for the inter-faculty Center for Ethics and Philosophy in Practice (ZEPP) as well as director of the Executive Master program in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPW). Moreover, she is a member of UNESCO's International Bioethics Committee, among other duties. Her research and teachings focus on topics in moral psychology, normative ethics, as well as the theory of normativity. Her current research interests are in the ethics of relationships, the normativity of personal projects, the rational role of emotions, empathy as a normative phenomenon, as well as autonomy.

Curriculum vitae

2025: Fudan Scholar, Fudan University Shanghai, China
2023: Hedda Andersson Guest Professor, Lund University, Sweden
2022: Visiting Professor, University of Vienna, Austria
2022: Professeur Invitée, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France

2020 - 2021: CAS research group leader, "Relationships in Transition", Center for Advanced Studies, LMU Munich
2014 -: W3 Professorship, Chair of Practical Philosophy and Ethics, LMU Munich
2012 - 2013: Visiting Research Professor and Faculty Fellow, Center for Ethics and Public Affairs, Murphy Institute, Tulane University, New Orleans, USA
2006 - 2015: Ordinaria in Philosophy (with a focus on Practical Philosophy), University of Bern, Switzerland
2005 - 2006: Assistant Professor (C2), Chair of Political Theory and Philosophy, Geschwister-Scholl-Institut, LMU Munich
2005: Habilitation and Venia Legendi in Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science and Religious Studies, LMU Munich
2004 - 2005: Research Associate, Chair of Political Theory and Philosophy, Geschwister-Scholl-Institut, LMU Munich
2003 - 2004: Guest lecturer, Institute of Philosophy, University of Bern, Switzerland
2002 - 2003: Feodor Lynen Research Fellow, Alexander-von-Humboldt-Stiftung: and Visiting Scholar, Philosophy Department, University of Calfornia at Berkeley, USA
1997 - 2004: Research Associate, Georg-August University Göttingen
1996 - 1997: Visiting Scholar, Philosophy Department, Harvard University, USA; and Teaching Assistant, Kennedy School of Government
1996: Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.), Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA.
1994 - 1996: McCloy Scholar, Kennedy University of Government, Harvard, USA
1993 - 1994: Research Associate, Philosophy Department, Georg-August University Göttingen
1992 - 1993: "Trainee" and "Expert" ("contrat d’expert") at the Prospective Analysis Staff in the Commission of European Communities (Delors cabinet), Brussels, Belgium; also lecturer in political philosophy
1992: Dr. phil. (summa cum laude) in Philosophy (major subject), Modern German Literature and Media Studies, LMU Munich
1988: Magister Artium (with distinction) in Philosophy (major subject), German Philology and History, LMU Munich

Selected publications

The Normative Significance of Personal Projects. Oxford: Oxford University Press [under contract].
The Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Personal Relationships (ed. with Sarah Stroud): Oxford: Oxford University Press [under contract].
Ending a Special Relationship: Towards an Ethics of Divorce, in: Philosophical Quarterly.
Moral Indifference (with Jonas Vanieken), in: Oxford Studies in Normative Ethics 13, ed. Mark Timmons (2023), 55-76
The Normative Significance of Adolescence, in: Journal of Applied Philosophy 39, Issue 4 (2022), 547-561.
Inverse Akrasia: A Case for Reasoning About One’s Emotions, in: Carla Bagnoli (ed.): Time in Action: The Temporal Structure of Rational Agency and Practical Thought. London: Routledge 2022, 243-263.
Shared Beliefs and the Limits of Empathy (with Simon Keller), in: Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 102 (2021), 267-291.
Verschwörungstheorien in Zeiten der Pandemie: Zur Bedeutung ethischer Standards im Prozess politischer Meinungsbildung, in: Archiv für Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie/Archives for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy 7 (2021), 475-494.
The Relational Value of Empathy, in: International Journal for Philosophical Studies 27 (2019), 136-161.
The Good of Consequentialized Deontology (with Jörg Schroth), in: Christian Seidel (ed.): Consequentialism. New Directions. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2018, 115–135.
Expressive Actions, in: Inquiry 52 (2009), 272-292.

Complete list of publications (PDF, 206 KB)

Academic distinctions

2024 Member, Institut International de Philosophie
2024 Member, Academia Europaea
2022, 2018 Teaching Prize
2022 nomination for Gregory Kavka/University of California, Irvine Prize for Political Philosophy of the American Philosophical Association 2024 for the article “Collegial Relationships” (the funding for this prize was suspended)
2020 - 2021 CAS research group leader, Relationships in Transition: Normative Challenges
2019 Winner of the Robert Papazian Essay Prize 2018 of the International Journal for Philosophical Studies
2018 Member, AcademiaNet - Expert Database of Outstanding Female Academics
2012 - 2013 Faculty Fellowship, Center for Ethics and Public Affairs, Murphy Institute, Tulane University, New Orleans, USA
2002 - 2003 Feodor Lynen Research Fellowship, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
2001 - 2002 Habilitation scholarship, Fazitstiftung
1994 - 1996 McCloy Scholarship, Harvard University and Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes
1989 - 1992 Doctoral scholarship, Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes
1988 Scholarship, Deutscher Akademikerinnenbund
1983 - 1984 Scholarship, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) to study in France

Research projects

Externally funded projects

Research Group Leader on Relationships in Transition, Center for Advanced Studies, LMU München (2019 - 2020), PI, 140.000€.
Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), “DAAD Visiting Chair Ethics in Practice” (2019 - 2021), PI, 240.000€.
VolkswagenStiftung, Münchner Kolleg “Ethik in der Praxis” (2018 - 2023) PI, 1.627.000€.
LMUExcellent, Schwerpunktgruppe “Moral Behavior”, Munich Center of Advanced Studies, Co-PI (2015 - 2017), 68.960€.
Schweizer Nationalfonds (SNF), “The Normative Role of Agent-Relative Reasons” (2014 - 2017), PI, 393.744€.
Schweizer Nationalfonds (SNF), “More Virtuous by Way of Neuro-Enhancement?” (2013 - 2016), PI, 168.359€.
Schweizer Nationalfonds (SNF), “Incomparability and Rationality” (2013 - 2016), PI, 158.946€.
Schweizer Nationalfonds (SNF), “Reasons for Partiality: The Ethics of the Family” (2011 - 2014), PI, 486.296€.
Schweizer Nationalfonds (SNF) “The Autonomous Life” (2008 - 2011), PI, 359,701€.
Schweizer Nationalfonds (SNF), “Kant’s Concept of Imagination between Idealism and Realism” (2009 - 2012), Co-PI, 372.405€.
Leverhulme Trust, European Research Group on “Rethinking the Philosophy of Action” (2008 - 2010), Co-PI, 22.267€.

Teaching

Prof. Betzler's current courses can be found on LSF.

If you wish to write a thesis under Prof. Betzler's supervision, please contact her by email, including a few sentences outlining the planned topic, in order to arrange an appointment.

Other activities

International

2022 - Member, International Bioethics Committee (IBC), UNESCO
2020 - Member, Expert Panel of the Doc-CH evaluation committee of the Schweizerischer Nationalfonds
2012 - 2023 Elected Member, Eidgenössische Ethikkommission für Biotechnologie im Außerhumanbereich (EKAH)
2014 - Member, Scientific Advisory Board of the Faculty of Philosophy and Pedagogy, University of Vienna

National

2023 - Jury Member, Max Uwe Redler Stiftung (for awarding the German Philosophy Prize)
2022 - Member, Scientific Advisory Council, Fritz Thyssen Stiftung
2018 - 2027 Member, Humboldt Research Prize Award Committee, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
2020 - 2024 Elected Member of the Review Board for "Practical Philosophy", Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
2020 - 2024 Member of the Steering Committee for DFG-Symposia in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
2018 - Member of the Board, Hochschule für Philosophie in München

At LMU

2021 - Elected spokesperson, Center for Ethics and Philosophy in Practice (ZEPP), LMU Munich
2020 - Director of the Executive Master program in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPW) at LMU Munich
2021 - Member of the Academic Board of the doctoral program "Environment and Society", Rachel Carson Center, LMU Munich
2019 - 2023 Vice dean, Faculty of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science and Religious Studies, LMU Munich
2017 - Elected member of the Faculty Council, Faculty 10
2018 - Member, Center for Advanced Studies, LMU Munich
2018 - 2023 Director of the research seminar "Münchner Kolleg Ethik in der Praxis" (MKEP) (€1.62m funding from the VolkswagenStiftung)

Scientific Council member/Associate Editor/Series Editor

Argumenta: Journal of the Italian Society for Analytic Philosophy
Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie
Ethical Theory and Moral Practice
European Journal of Philosophy
Grazer Philosophische Studien
Jahrbuch für praktische Philosophie in globaler Perspektive
Journal of Social Ontology
On Education. Journal for Research and Debate
Zeitschrift für Ethik und Moralphilosophie/Journal for Ethics and Moral Philosophy (ZEMO)
Zeitschrift für philosophische Forschung
Zeitschrift für praktische Philosophie
Munich Lectures in Ethics (New York: Oxford University Press)