Prof. Dr. Ruth Hagengruber, the first president of the German Society for Philosophy (DGPhil), is committed to “Rethink Europe.”

„Check carefully whether you really want what you are aiming for. We need perseverance and a goal that we want to achieve. The quality of the goal determines the degree of danger you anticipate from others, as well as your own ability to persevere. In most cases, these two challenges go hand in hand. Violence and self-alienation are closely linked and so is the opposite.“ ~Ruth E. Hagengruber

This is the advice from Prof. Dr. Ruth Hagengruber, the first female president of the German Society for Philosophy, in an interview with SAFI – the Societas Aperta Feminarum in Iuris Theoria, an interdisciplinary support network for women in legal academia. SAFI’s mission is to connect and strategically empower women in legal research, providing a platform to present and amplify their work and ensure that outstanding research by women becomes firmly established in the field.

The conversation was conducted by Dr. Kristin Y. Albrecht, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Salzburg’s Faculty of Law and co-founder of SAFI. Dr. Albrecht is a legal philosopher with research experience at leading universities across Europe and the UK, and she currently co-edits major international works in legal theory.

In addition to her call for perseverance and clarity of purpose, Hagengruber shares in the interview her vision for Rethinking Europe, reflects on the role of legal philosophy in her work, and discusses why the history of women philosophers is essential for creating a more equitable society.

Curious to learn more? Read the full interview with Prof. Dr. Ruth Hagengruber here.