The German Research Foundation (DFG) is extending funding for the Human Abilities Centre for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, which is investigating the philosophical foundations of human abilities and their limits under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Barbara Vetter (Freie Universität Berlin) and Prof. Dr. Dominik Perler (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin). This was announced by the DFG on Thursday, 7 December 2023, following a decision by its Joint Committee in Bonn. The funding for the project amounts to 3.9 million euros over the next four years.

The aim of the research centre “FOR 2909: Human Abilities” is to reflect systematically on human abilities and their limits. With its previous research, which ranges from the history of the problem of free will to the treatment of different talents in the education system and always combines current philosophical questions with the history of philosophy, it has made a name for itself as an international research centre in recent years. The second funding period will focus on the limits of human abilities: how can these limits be thought of philosophically and how should they be dealt with rationally? Here too, philosophers from all over the world will collaborate with each other and with other disciplines in Berlin. Other partner institutions besides FU Berlin and HU Berlin are the Technische Universität Berlin, the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and the Max Planck Institute for Crime, Security and Law Research.

DFG Centres for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences enable researchers in the humanities and social sciences to address current and pressing issues in their field and establish innovative research directions. The DFG currently funds a total of 189 Research Units, 12 Clinical Research Units and 16 Centres for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Press release by the DFG: https://www.dfg.de/en/service/press/press-releases/2023/pr-23-54