Mrs. Eva Weiler, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Dr. Eva Weiler is an accomplished political philosopher and Akademische Rätin a.Z. at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. She earned her PhD in 2020 with a dissertation exploring the normative foundations of property rights from early modernity to the present. Her research focuses on political philosophy, environmental ethics, and theories of ownership and commons, culminating in a monograph published by Mohr Siebeck in 2023. Dr. Weiler has contributed extensively to peer-reviewed journals, edited volumes, and interdisciplinary research networks. She has organized international workshops and led funded projects, including the prestigious Wie viel Erde braucht der Mensch? funded by UDE. As a board member of the Center for Global Cooperation Research and an active educator, she also mentors early-career researchers and champions academic accessibility for first-generation students. Her accolades include the Soroptimist International Dissertation Award and selection into the Global Young Faculty program of the Ruhr Alliance.
Publication Profile
Orcid
Qualifications and Career
Dr. Eva Weiler is a distinguished scholar in political philosophy with a career rooted in academic excellence and interdisciplinary engagement. Since 2023, she has held the position of Akademische Rätin at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE), where she continues her contributions to research and teaching. From 2014 to 2023, she served as a research associate at the Chair for Political Philosophy at UDE, engaging in both doctoral and postdoctoral work. Her earlier academic tenure (2013–2014) was with the French-German research network Saisir l’Europe – Europa als Herausforderung at Goethe University Frankfurt, where she was part of the sustainability research group. In 2020, Dr. Weiler completed her PhD at the Institute for Philosophy, University of Duisburg-Essen. Her dissertation, supervised by Andreas Niederberger and Jakob Kapeller, was titled “Der ursprüngliche Gemeinbesitz an der Erde”, focusing on the normative foundations of property debates from early modern history to the present.
Research Focus
Dr. Eva Weiler’s research lies at the intersection of political philosophy, property theory, and environmental ethics, with a specific focus on the normative foundations of ownership and resource distribution. Her work critically examines the historical and philosophical development of property rights, particularly how Enlightenment theories transitioned from the idea of original common ownership to modern concepts of private property. In her 2025 article “Property’s Entanglement with the Future”, she explores the shift from productivist economic models toward commons-based approaches, highlighting sustainability and intergenerational justice. Her 2024 publication in Zeitschrift für Politische Theorie investigates why classical theories failed to evolve from communal to common property frameworks and proposes methodological pathways for rethinking ownership. Dr. Weiler’s research significantly contributes to contemporary debates on climate ethics, legal pluralism, and the governance of natural resources, making her a key voice in reimagining property beyond extractive capitalism toward more equitable and ecological systems.
Publication Top Notes
📘 “Property’s Entanglement with the Future. From Productivist Economy to the Common” – Ethics, Policy & Environment, 2025, DOI: 10.1080/21550085.2025.2516333
📗 “Vom Gemeinbesitz zum Privateigentum? […]” – Zeitschrift für Politische Theorie, 2024, DOI: 10.3224/zpth.v15i1.04
📙 (Online first) Vom Gemeinbesitz zum Privateigentum? […] – ZPTh (Online First), 2024, DOI: 10.3224/zpth.v15i1.05.of