Ben Craik
- PhD student
Contact
About
Supervisor: Dr Martin Ruehl
Research Topic: Nietzsche and the German Question: Art in the Shadow of Empire
Ben took his BA in Philosophy from Cambridge and his MSc in European Studies from the LSE. After working briefly as a journalist, he moved to Leipzig, where he learned German and took courses on history and literature at the university. In 2020, Ben was awarded the Harding Distinguished Postgraduate Scholarship, which has brought him back to Cambridge for a PhD in German Intellectual History.
Research
Ben’s PhD focusses on Nietzsche’s response to the unification of Germany. He is particularly interested in what this episode tells us about the relationship between politics and artistic flourishing in his thought. This is also the background against which he thinks we need to understand Nietzsche’s friendship with Wagner and how and why it came to an end. Ben approaches his work as a historian, which means trying to situate Nietzsche’s texts within the debates of the time; doing so has helped uncover links between his work and texts and thinkers with whom he had not previously been connected, from Aristotle’s Politics to Constantin Frantz.
Scholarships/Prizes
Harding Distinguished Postgraduate Scholarship, 2020-2024
Best Research Presentation, Jesus College Graduate Conference, 2021
Teaching and supervision
Teaching
Ben does undergraduate supervising for the History of Political Thought (1700-1890) paper.
Conference papers
‘Writing, Publication, and the Interpretation of Texts: A Preliminary Sketch’, given at the 8th Graduate Conference in Political Theory (held in honour of Quentin Skinner) at Sciences Po Paris, November 2021.
Aristotle’s Influence on Nietzsche’s Early Political Thought’, given at the Jesus College Graduate Conference in Cambridge, March 2021.