The research unit investigates some inter-related areas in philosophy of education:

1. Knowledge and learning: The relations between experience, language, reason and judgment. Epistemological and metaphysical conceptions and their importance for teaching, studying and learning.
2. Formation, politics and religion: Political philosophy and norms in relation to formation (Bildung), democracy, citizenship and cosmopolitanism. Philosophy of religion, aesthetics and ethics.
3. History of ideas: The relations between the history of philosophy and the history of educational ideas.
4. Contemporary trends: Development of fields of knowledge and academic literacy.

These areas are explored critically from a variety of traditions mainly representing philosophical analysis, dialectics, critical theory, social analytical perspectives, "allgemeine Pädagogik", phenomenology and historical inquiry.