Joachim Koch (philosopher)

Joachim Koch (* 17th January 1954 in Regensburg , † 17th September 2008 in Cologne ) was a German social philosopher , author and editor of Philosophy portal philosophers today informing about "philosophers of the present and its activities in the German-speaking world".

Koch was one of the founders of Philosophical Practice and specialized in the field of "Philosophy and Economy". He was one of the theorists of political philosophy in economized societies and worked for many years as a consultant for brand philosophies. In addition, he gained notoriety through his activities to make philosophical know-how accessible to a broader lay audience. Above all, the web portal philosophers today was one of the most important and most visited philosophy offers on the Internet with several million hits.

biography

Koch began his studies in 1973 at the University of Regensburg . In the following years he was particularly concerned with the sophists and the cultural theory of rhetoric , which was effective from antiquity to the Enlightenment, and the philosophies of Theodor W. Adorno , Max Horkheimer , Gilles Deleuze and Michel Foucault . After graduating (MA in Philosophy and Psychology; Diploma in Pedagogy / Sociology), from 1982 on he was a research assistant at the chair of pedagogue Helmut Heid , who was then President of the German Society for Educational Science . In the summer of 1983 Koch did his doctorate with a thesis on problems of emancipatory social science and practice, based on the "exemplary case of action research". The dissertation with the title “What happens to the ideal and the truth when they interlock” was published in the same year by focus-Verlag in Giessen .

In the summer of 1983 Koch started his own business as a philosopher in Hamburg . He opened the first philosophical practice in northern Germany (after Gerd B. Achenbach as second in Germany) with a focus on life counseling. After a year and a half, he increasingly turned to topics at the interface between philosophy and business. In cooperation with the brand designer Windi Winderlich (d. 1996), Koch dealt with the problems of brand management, especially the psychological and sociological relevance of so-called brand philosophies, which is why he started working as a consultant and conceptualist for branded goods companies and well-known advertising agencies from 1985.

In the mid-eighties, against the background of his experience with the communications industry (media reality ) and the economization of society that began with the “moral turn” of the Kohl era, he wrote a book about the changing understanding of reality. It was published in 1988 under the title “Farewell to Reality. The illusionistic age ”(designed by Windi Winderlich) published by Rowohlt.

In 1990 Koch moved to Rome , where he mainly worked as a writer for the general and business press. During this time he also wrote a novel that was performed as a play. The main role was played by Lara Bandilla, his future wife, who is now working as an artist. He has two children with her.

In 1994, together with the marketing director of a tobacco company, Koch founded an agency for brand philosophies, the "Marken, Poetik und Philosophie GmbH", in Hamburg.

After three years, Koch opted for philosophy again. He returned to Rome with his wife in 1997 and wrote a book there in which he advanced the thesis that according to theology the economy was in the Middle Ages and the "program of reason" leading from philosophy to the new megaphilosophy since the Enlightenment become. It appeared (based on Kierkegaard's “Either - Or”) under the title “Neither - nor. The promise of freedom of the economy ”2001 by the Gutenberg Book Guild or with the title“ Megaphilosophie ”2002 as a paperback by Steidl-Verlag.

Also in 2001 Koch started the internet portal philosophers today . The site has become one of the most visited philosophy addresses on the web with ever growing visitor numbers.

Grave at Melaten Cemetery (2016)

After the birth of the first child and promoted by the success of “Megaphilosophy”, as a result of which he was regularly invited to speak at political and economic conferences in German-speaking countries, he and his family returned to Regensburg in 2002.

After the birth of the second child, Koch and his family moved to Cologne in the summer of 2006 . Together with two experts in the field of economics and philosophy, he founded "phil + - branding public goods" in 2007 - a pool of expertise for the development and implementation of non-commercial brands in the socio-political, social, humanitarian, cultural or scientific field. In this further philosophical application, geared towards general social issues, Koch and his colleagues were primarily concerned with socio-philosophically effective initiatives in the third sector and civic engagement. In addition, he continued to work as an author.

Koch died on September 17, 2008 at the age of 54 from a longstanding cancer. He was buried in the Melaten cemetery in Cologne (hall 73 no. 182).

Publications (selection)

• What happens to the ideal and the truth when they interlock (dissertation); focus Verlag, Giessen 1983
• Farewell to reality. The illusionistic age ; Rowohlt-Verlag, Reinbek 1988
• Identify Identity. Economics of the immaterial ; in: gdi-impuls (Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute), Zurich, 2/94
• Reality + illusion = reality ; in: Theodor M. Bardmann (ed.) - Circular Positions BD. 1, constructivism as a practical theory; Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen 1997
• Money. Who pays creates, who no longer pays creates even more ; in: Equal Opportunities, Social Partnership, Justice; Book Guild, Frankfurt am Main, 2001
• Neither - nor. The economy's promise of freedom ; Book Guild, Frankfurt am Main 2001; as mega-philosophy in Steidl-Verlag, Göttingen 2002

Web links

• Literature by and about Joachim Koch in the catalog of the German National Library
• phil + - branding public goods