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KATRINA MITCHESONMy research is rooted in 19th and 20th Century European thought, including the work of Nietzsche, Freud, Foucault and Ricoeur. I have also addressed intersections with Ancient philosophy, considering Nietzsche’s relationship to Pyrronhian Scepticism and Foucault’s connection to Stoicism. I am particularly interested in the contribution of these thinkers to theories of the self, in particular the self understood as constructed, understandings of philosophy as a way of life, and the problems and possibilities of self-cultivation. Many of my publications to date have explored how various techniques or technologies of the self in the work of Nietzsche, Freud and Foucault address problems of self-knowledge, self-cultivation and transformation, at the same time as addressing interpretative issues concerning their work. I have also published on the philosophy of photography and film and am now exploring how art works can facilitate our understanding of, and contribute to, processes of self-construction. I recently published a new book: Visual Art and Self-Construction, with Edinburgh University Press, which challenges the paradigm of narrative as a theory of self-construction. I continue to contribute to Nietzsche scholarship, most recently writing on Nietzsche’s use of the metaphor of pregnancy, and currently drafting a guide book on Nietzsche’s Dawn (part of the Edinburgh Critical Guides to Nietzsche Series). I am currently President of the Friedrich Nietzsche Society |