Katrin Becker

I am a tenured Senior Researcher at the Department of Humanities at University of Luxembourg, Program Director at the Collège International de Philosophie in Paris (2025-2031) and an Associate Member of the Centre Georg Simmel at EHESS. I am currently pursuing my habilitation under the supervision of Prof. Rainer Maria Kiesow (EHESS, Paris).

My work explores the dialectical interplay between symbolic and imaginary foundations of our culture and technological-medial progress, with a special focus on blockchain technology and AI.

I examine the epistemological roots of blockchain- and AI-driven legal and societal innovations, such as code-governed decentralized organizations, virtual property regimes, and predictive or decentralized justice, showing how these emerging technologies are reshaping established notions of law, governance, and subjectivity. 

A significant strand of my scholarship has involved translating and interpreting the works of Pierre Legendre – whose philosophy underpins my doctoral thesis. This rigorous theoretical engagement with the intersections of law, technology and society has been complemented by a hands-on experience at a Paris law firm, where I worked as a translator and gained direct insight into both French and German legal practice. By combining practical expertise with a multidisciplinary education in law, legal philosophy, and German and French literary, linguistic, and cultural studies, I have developed a distinctive research approach that bridges philosophical analysis with legal, media, and cultural theory.  

Research residencies at the Institut d’Études Avancées in Nantes (2018-2019) and at the Weizenbaum Institute in Berlin (2022) have provided valuable opportunities to deepen and refine this approach. My interdisciplinary research has resulted in numerous scholarly publications and media appearances, in media outlets such as Le Monde, Revue Esprit and France Culture. I have also been invited to provide policy advice to prominent institutions, including the Foresight Center of the European Commission, the Federal Council for Sustainable Development in Belgium, and the Paris Bar Association.

Full CV

Research Interests

My research is guided by the following core questions, which explore the dynamic intersections of law, culture and technology:

  • Notions of Subjectivity: How do individuals become subjects within societal structures? To what extent are they entangled in rigid normative frameworks, and how can they either break free from them or actively shape these structures? What roles do language, law, and technology play in these dynamics of agency and constraint?
  • Evolving Paradigms of Authority: How are traditional notions of binding obligations and authority transforming in response to transnational networks and decentralization initiatives? What do these changes mean for established models of governance and social cohesion?
  • Digitalization of Social Fabric: What impact does digitalization have on social dynamics and the institutional – textual – fabric of our society? How does the pursuit of more autonomous, virtual and disembodied forms of life reshape our cultural foundations and concepts of subjectivity? Does this shift erode traditional social contexts, or does it give rise to new forms of community and new social bonds?
  • Blockchain’s Cultural and Legal Implications: What are the ideological underpinnings and the cultural and legal implications of blockchain technology? How might its promises of „decentralized justice“ and „self-sovereign identity“ transform the legal landscape? Which foundational principles of our legal and cultural system are at stake, and what risks accompany these innovations?
  • AI’s Impact on Democratic Subjectivity: The deployment of artificial intelligence in legal systems, educational settings and political processes transform individuals‘ (text-based) relationship to society: What are the implications of these shifts for the core dynamics underpinning democracy and the rule of law?
  • The Role of Body, Space and Time: What roles do the body (broadly understood, i.e. the human body, textual corpus, materiality, and nature), time, and nature play in all this?

CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS

Publications (selection)

Complete list of publications