Hans Joas

Hans Joas (born in Munich in 1948) is a sociologist and social philosopher. He studied in Munich and Berlin, received his doctorate in 1979 and completed his habilitation at the Free University of Berlin in 1981. His academic positions included professorships at the universities of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Berlin and Erfurt, as well as teaching appointments in Freiburg and Chicago. In Erfurt, he headed the Max Weber College; at the University of Chicago, he was a professor of sociology and a member of the Committee on Social Thought. He also held an Ernst Troeltsch honorary professorship at Humboldt University of Berlin. In 2012, he was a guest professor of the Joseph Ratzinger–Pope Benedict XVI Foundation at the University of Regensburg. His awards included the Max Planck Research Award and the Prix Ricœur.