Fritz Breithaupt Meersburg, Germany, 1967
He studied comparative literature, law and history of art in Hamburg, at the Free University of Berlin and at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, where he earned his doctorate in 1997 he is professor of Germanic Studies and Adjunct Professor of Cognitive Science and Comparative Literature at Indiana University (USA), where he was also director of West European Studies Institute and cofounder of the EU-Center of Excellence. His research includes the intersection of cognitive science and the theory of culture and intellectual history from the eighteenth century onwards. Currently, he is dedicated to investigate the way humans process complex narratives and aesthetic forms. His recent works include, besides Cultures of empathy originally-published in 2009 by Suhrkamp Verlag-, Der Effekt des Ich-Geldes (Fischer Verlag, 2008) and Kultur der Ausrede (Suhrkamp Verlag, 2011).