Embodied Cognition and Aesthetics
Philosopher at Technische Universität Berlin
My research examines the interaction of culture and art with perception, emotion, and knowledge. I am interested in how the mind works and I employ theories from 4E (embodied, embedded. extended, enactive) cognitive science to explore this. Recently, I have been working on how emotions, such as interest in the urban environment and wonder in art, shape and motivate our exploration of the world.
Prof. Dr. Joerg Fingerhut, Technische Universität Berlin, Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin / contact@joergfingerhut.com
More about my current affiliations here: about me.
Inter- and Transdisciplinary Research Group
The Arts and Minds Lab brings together researchers from diverse disciplines (from neurosciencists to artists) with a focus on questions from philosophy of mind and aesthetics. In such a lab setting, ideas on art, emotions, and transformations are not just discussed from the comfort of an armchair but actively explored through research across disciplinary boundaries and including real-world engagement in the city.
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Aesthetic Emotions are Epistemic Em.
Aesthetic Cognitivism | Emotion Theory | Disinterestedness | Wonder | Draft Paper
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Urban Aesthetics and Affordances
Philosophy of the City | Neurourbanism | Well-being | Beauty | Interestingness | Talk
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Art and Embodied Aesthetic Emotion
Kara Walker| Philosophy of Psychology| Exploration| Evaluation| Draft Paper
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Theories of Seeing: An Introduction
4E | Phenomenology| Pragmatism| Predictive Processing / Media| Aesthetics| Book
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Report on a 4EA Theory of Art
Transformative Aesthetics| Neuroaesthetics| Enactivism| ART*IS| Project| Fingerhut
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The Aesthetic Self Effect
Experimental Philosophy| Emotions| Preferences| Moral Values| Personal Identity| Paper
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Report on Art in Urban Settings
Public Art| Urban Design| Neurourbanism| Aesthetics| ART*IS| Project| Fingerhut
News & Talks
August 2026: I accepted a professorship at the Uniarts Helsinki as Professor for Philosophy and Cognitive Science. The post will commence in January 2027.
July 2026: I moved my lab the Technische Universität Berlin and officially started the ERC project Affective Aesthetic Cognitivism and Wonder.
June 2026: A new version of Aesthetic Emotions and the Drive for Knowledge is available (accepted for publication).
May 2026: A new preprint on Art and Embodied Aesthetic Emotions is available (accepted for publication).
Feb 2026: I uploaded a preprint of Aesthetic Emotions are Epistemic Emotions (currently under review). The paper explores the cognitive impact of art by claiming that emotions are the central diver of this impact.
Jan 2026: I officially started to work on my Thyssen grant: Aesthetic Cognitivism in Philosophy and Empirical Studies of the Arts; This grant funds me as the PI as well as my Postdoc Dr. Corinna Kühnapfel.
Dec 2025: I uploaded a preprint of Urban Aesthetics: Beauty and Interestingness of the City (currently under review). The paper explores some fundamental issues underlying our studies on the impact of urban environments and architecture on the mind.
I present on Epistemic Emotions. A New Look from the Arts at the Philosophical Colloquium at Technische Universität zu Berlin (Dec. 10, 2-4 pm; 45-60 min.). On Dec. 12 (10 am) I present on “Wonder as an Epistemic and Aesthetic Emotions” at the Philosophical Colloquium at Freie Universität zu Berlin.
Research
My work centers on New Cognitive Media Theory, a framework I developed to explore how images, film, urban spaces, architecture, and art shape cognition, perception, and affect. Grounded in embodied cognitive science, this approach examines media-technological developments, aesthetics, and artistic practices through the lens of philosophy of mind and cognitive science.
I initially formulated New Cognitive Media Theory with a particular focus on images and film. More recently, my research has expanded to the philosophy of the city and the built environment, which I approach through neurourbanism—investigating architecture as a central medium of the mind and its impact on mental health and well-being. Additionally, I explore art and transformation, particularly how works of art offer models for the future that we grasp via aesthetic emotions.
This website presents my work across these interconnected fields.
2025 will be dedicated to finishing a book on The Urban Condition. Yet, I will continue to work on papers and presentations on beauty and wonder, as well as the “Your Emotional City!” citizen science project.
Arts and Minds Lab
At Technische Universität Berlin I have a research group on transformative aesthetics, the Arts and Minds Lab. This is where most of my research happens. We focus mainly on one question — addressed both theoretically and experimentally — How do the arts (architecture, images, new media) transform us over time? How does art directly address our relationship to the world and aims at a remediation of those relationships.
To understand how our current technology, cultural artifacts and urban living impact the mind, we span different disciplines (data science, psychology, cognitive neuroscience) by being part of the Research Platform Neurourbanism, which cooperates with citizen scientists and practitioners. The same holds for our art research with the European consortium ART*IS that encompasses art schools as well as well as institutes for neuroscience and psychology of art, for which we also coordinate joint activities with artists, museums, galleries, etc.
Talks and Teaching
I teach at the Department of Philosophy at TU Berlin. I have been a Guest Professor at the Department of Philosophy/Berlin School of Mind and Brain at HU Berlin and Deputy Professor for Philosophy of Mind at the LMU Munich. I also regularly teach a block course on “Art, Aesthetics, and Media” at a Goldsmiths Master Program. Learn more about my teaching here.
I give most of my talks at conferences and academic workshops. But I will also list some more internal presentations in our projects as well as more public panel discussions and talks at museums and citizen projects.