Welcome to the professional part of my web page.
Here you can find information about Philosophy, Value Sensitive Design and Theory of Creativity.
Interested in Creativity Coaching or online Workshops? Write me for an individual offer.
For the results of my creative endevours have a look on my private page!

Maintaining this homepage is a work in progress, so make sure to stop by once in a while.

"The loss of meaning does not precede the endeavours of philosophy, it is inherent to it"
Wolfram Hogrebe, Metaphysik und Mantik(1992)

Philosophy is usually seen as the search for meaning. The initial quote seems to tell us that meaning not only is lost but is actually destroyed by this act of searching. The loss of meaning is compensated by acts of thinking, trying to produce meaning, finding truth or the ability to evaluate actions in an ethical sense. If we were to believe that sentence of Hogrebe we may come to the point of findig philosophy in general hopeless. Nevertheless this attitude would be a philosophical statement, too.
What does "loss of meaning" mean? We shall not confuse it with insignificancy. The point where understanding ends is a cliff, an edge that leads to both madness and mysterial insight into the secret wells of being. The power of philosophy lies in this abeyance about the big questions of life.
Where philosophy is seen as "unscientific" or "useless" it should be taken into account that philosophy is the fundament on which every logic and therefore every science can grow. Bertrand Russel claims that philosopy will always have to apologize herself in that matter, because it is the very moment in which a philosophical speculation becomes truth it stops being philosophy and may become a new branch of science for example. Philosophy will find its purest form only if it is not one for any outer reasons or circumstances, like gaining wealth or reputation, but for its own end. Staying in the indeterminacy of infinite reflection on itself one will become unworldly, for this reason the claim to any philosopher must always be to dare the leap back into life.

Creativity

In my academic studies I was occupied with lots of theories about creativity, none of them convincing enough for me. So I decided to write my master's thesis about it. With the term of the "leap" as Sören Kierkegaard coined it it seemedlike I found a fitting effigy.
Creativity can be thought as a structured way of letting go all expectations. This letting go culminates in the image of the leap. The leap into the unknown and over one's own shadow seems to be more than a superficial metaphor, in the momentum of the leap the unthinkable genesis of 'something' new reveals itself in a transcendental and timeless way. For Kierkegaard the leap was a religious question, not a "leap (out) of faith", but the one and only way of coming into faith.
In my thesis I question the supremacy of christian faith as Kierkegaard proposes it and instead plead for a broader common spiritual understanding and an upcoming "metaparadigm of creativity" following David L. Miller.

VSD

The term value sensitive design(VSD) describes a set of methods for product development and design, which incorporates processes of value generation and bonding already in the product planning. That human values mirror themselves in technology and technical products is a common argument in the ongoing discourse of philosophy of technology. It is a common missunderstanding that products could be designed "with" or "without" values. The method of VSD is rather, to raise awareness for all the value systems that are touched and alienated by technical products. It is taken into account that those value systems underlie specific and therefore relative contexts.
I would like to evaluate my theoretical knowledge about VSD in practice. If you are interested in a collaboration feel free to contact me under: design [ ät ]michael-marquardt.com

If you are interested more deeply in the theory of VSD take a look into the work of Batya Friedman: https://www.vsdesign.org/

In August I will start a systemic coaching education. My goal in becoming a creativity coach is to help people being more creative in their lives and workspaces.

I am offering coaching sessions at reduced fees for the duration of my education.
If you are interested in a private session or a even in developing a workshop for business creativity together with me get in contact: coaching [ ät ]michael-marquardt.com

Some things I did in my life:
2008 Military service as glider pilot
Athletic program of the german Military

2008-2013 Bachelor of Science: Mechanical and Process Engineering
Technische Universität Darmstadt

2013-2016 Co-Founder at e-Ray Europa GmbH
Development and installation of small scale hydrokinetic power plants
https://www.e-ray.eu/

2016-2020 Master of Arts: Philosophy and Technology
Technische Universität Darmstadt