Sascha Benjamin Fink | Director of Research of the Centre for Philosophy and AI Research (PAIR) at FAU Erlangen

I currently work as Director of Research at the Centre for Philosophy and AI Research {PAIR} (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg). I am an Affiliate Professor at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Glasgow and an external member of the Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences at Magdeburg, where I was Juniorprofessor for Neurophilosophy between 2016 and 2024.

My publications are mainly in philosophy (philosophy of mind, of science, of perception or epistemology) at the intersection with the empirical sciences of the mind as well as medicine and engineering (see my Google Scholar page here; most of my work can be found open access).

I am currently involved in the following research projects:

DFG/AHRC-funded project SENSOR “Sensory Engineering: Investigating Altered and Guided Perception and Hallucination” (with the Center for the Study of Perceptual Experiences at the University of Glasgow);
BMBF/DLR-funded project „PsychedELSI: Ethische, legale und soziale Implikationen der Neuropsychopharmakologie in der Psychotherapie – Vorbereitung auf die psychedelische Renaissance“;
EU ERANET NEURON-funded project PSYTRANS (on psychedelic transformation);
EU ERANET NEURON COMPAIN (on complex pain ontologies);
DFG-Project “Philosophy and the Mind Sciences (PhiMiSci). Konsolidierung einer wissenschaftlichen Open-Access-Zeitschrift”.
Previously, I was a PI in the DFG-funded research training group Extrospection: External Access to Higher Cognitive Processes (2019–2023).

Currently, I serve as Editor-in-Chief of the independent, cost-free, diamond open-access journal Philosophy and the Mind Sciences since 2019.

To increase the reach of academic philosophy, I have produced several interviews with German analytic philosophers for the Youtube channel of the German Society for Analytic Philosophy (GAP).

PUBLICATIONS

JOURNAL ARTICLES

– Fink, S. B. & Ashby, B. (forthcoming) Gastronomy as Sensory Engineering. Gastronomica.

– Kind, A., Fink, S. B., & Walter, H. (forthcoming). What is Precision Psychotherapy. The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy.

– Caporuscio, C. & Fink, S. B. (2024) Epistemic Risk Reduction in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy. Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences. https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2024_531

– Fink, S. B. (2024) How-tests for consciousness and direct neurophenomenal structuralism. Frontiers in Psychology 15. 1352272.

– Fink, S. B., Repantis, D., & Koslowski, M. (2024) Ethische Aspekte der Psychotherapie mit Psychedelika. Die Psychotherapie.

– Fink, S. B. (2022) Psychedelics favour understanding rather than knowledge. Philosophy and the Mind Sciences, 3, 1–10.

– Caporuscio, C., Fink, S. B., Sterzer, P., & Martin, J. M. (2022). When seeing is not believing: A mechanistic basis for predictive divergence. Consciousness and Cognition, 102, 103334.

– Fink, S. B.; Kob, Lukas & Lyre, Holger (2021) Structural constraints on neural correlates of consciousness. Philosophy and the Mind Sciences, 2, 1–23.

– Fink, S. B. & Lin, Ying-Tung (2021) Progress and paradigms in the search for the neural correlates of consciousness. Philosophy and the Mind Sciences, 2, 1–7.

– Fink, S. B. (2020) Look who’s talking! Varieties of ego-dissolution without paradox. Philosophy and the Mind Sciences, 1(I), 1–36.

– Fink, S. B. (2018) Introspective disputes deflated: The case for phenomenal variation, Philosophical Studies, 175, 3165–3194.

– Fink, S. B. (2018) The concept of a Bewusstseinskultur. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1664-1078, DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00732.

– Fink, S. B. (2016) A deeper look at the “neural correlate of consciousness”. Frontiers in Psychology 7 (1044).

– Fink, S. B. (2011) Independence and connections of pain and suffering. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 18 (13-14).

IN ANTHOLOGIES

– Fink, S. B. (forthcoming) Neurophenomenal Structuralism and the Search for Neural Correlates of Consciousness. In: Lucia Meloni & Umberto Olcese (eds.) Neuroscience of Consciousness. OUP.

– Fink, S. B. & Kob, Lukas (2024) Neurophenomenal structuralism as a general theory of consciousness? In: Tomas Marvan & Michal Polak (eds.) Conscious and Unconscious. Routledge.

– Fink, S. B. (2024) Wahrnehmung. In: Vera Hoffmann-Kolss (ed.) Handbuch Philosophie des Geistes. Metzler.

– Fink, S. B. (2024) On Acid Empiricism. In: Rob Lovering (ed.) Philosophy of Psychedelics. Pallgrave.

– Fink, S. B. (2024) Ethische Dimensionen des Erinnerns und Vergessens. In: Bernard Strauß (ed.) Wie erinnern und vergessen wir? Psychosozial-Verlag.

– Fink, S. B. (2021) Towards a scaleable Darwinian Left. In: Johannes L. Brandl, Beatrice Kobow, & Daniel Messelken (eds.) Analytical Explications and Interventions. Brill/Mentis, 349–369.

– Fink, S. B. (2021) Rationalität und transformative Erfahrungen. Zeitschrift für inter- und transdisziplinäre Bildung (Spezialausgabe zum Thema Entscheidungen).

– Fink, S. B. (2020) Die Schwierigkeit, für sich selbst zu entscheiden: Transformativität und Unvorhersehbarkeit. In: Laurie Paul (2020) Was können wir wissen, bevor wir uns entscheiden? (Übersetzung von: What you can’t expect when you’re expecting). Reclam.

– Fink, S. B. (2018) Darwin unter Linken? Das naturalistische Fundament politischer Solidarität. In: Peter Singer (2018) Linke, hört die Signale! (Übersetzung von: A Darwinian Left). Reclam.

– Fink, S. B. (2017) Progress by Paradox: Paradoxien als Katalysator wissenschaftlichen Fortschritts. In: Karsten Engel (ed.) Von Schildkröten und Lügnern. Paderborn: Mentis.

– Fink, S. B. (2017) Why care beyond the square? Classical and extended shapes of oppositions in their application to “introspective disputes”. In: J.Y.B. Béziau & G. Basti (eds.) The Square of Oppositions: A Cornerstone of Thought. Springer, p. 325–337.

– Fink, S. B. & Carlos Zednik (2017) Meeting in the dark room: Bayesian rational analysis and hierarchical predictive coding. In: T. Metzinger & W. Wiese (eds.) The Philosophy of Predictive Processing, 1–13.

– Fink, S. B. (2015) Phenomenal precision and some pitfalls — a commentary on Ned Block. In T. Metzinger & J. Windt (eds.) Open Mind, MIT Press. (with a reply by Ned Block (2015) Solely generic phenomenology – a reply to Sascha Benjamin Fink, same volume).

– Fink, S. B. (2012) Knowing pain. In: E. Cohen, L. Toker, M. Consonni, & O. Dror (eds.) Knowledge and Pain. Amsterdam & New York: Rodopi.

– Fink, S. B. (2010) The ambiguity of ‘pain’, in: Jane Fernandez-Goldborough (ed.), Making Sense of: Pain. Oxford: Inter-disciplinary Net.

– Fink, S. B. (2010) Pain: A natural state without a nature? Dealing with the ambiguity of ‘pain’ in science and ethics, in: Gillian Bendelow, Heather McKenzie and John Quinton (eds.), At the Edge of Being: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Pain. New York: Rodopi.

Book Reviews

– Fink, S. B. (2014) Review of Fiona Macpherson’s & Dimitris Platchias’s “Hallucination: Philosophy and Psychology”. Metapsychology, 18 (25).

– Fink, S. B. (2011) Review of Tamar Szabo Gendler’s “Intuition, Imagination, and Philosophical Methodology”, Metapsychology, 15 (49).

– Fink, S. B, (2010) Review of Arne Vetlesen’s “The Philosophy of Pain”, Metapsychology, 14 (25).

– Fink, S. B. (2010) Review of Victoria Braithwaite’s “Do Fish Feel Pain?”, Metapsychology, 14 (34).

– Fink, S. B. (2010) Review of Jan Westerhoff’s “12 Examples of Illusion”, Metapsychology, 14 (50).

Policy Statements

– Bublitz, C; Fink, S. B.; Voigt, T.; Repantis, D. (2025) General Comment on the impacts of drug policies on economic, social and cultural rights: Public Consultation (to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights).

Editions & Translations

– Brown, Derek; Fink, S. B.; Lyons, Jack; Macpherson, Fiona (forthcoming) Sensory Engineering. Special Issue in PHILOSOPHY: The Journal of the Royal Institute of Philosophy. .

– Claudia Passos, Sascha Benjamin Fink, & Joel Frohlich (forthcoming) Infant Consciousness. Special Issue: Philosophy and the Mind Sciences.

– Laurie Ann Paul (forthcoming) Transformative Erlebnisse: Erfahrungen, die uns verändern. Mit Nachwort von Sascha Benjamin Fink. Meiner (German Translation of “Transformative Experiences”, OUP).

– Sascha Benjamin Fink & Andrew Lee (2025) Structuralism in Consciousness Studies. Special Issue: Philosophy and the Mind Sciences.

– Sascha Benjamin Fink & Regina Fabry (2023) Thinking & Perceiving. Special Symposium, Philosophy and the Mind Sciences. Contributions by Zoe Drayson, Christopher Mole, Alexandra Mroczko, Dustin Stokes.

– Sascha Benjamin Fink & Chiara Caporuscio (2022) Philosophy of Psychedelics. Special Symposium, Philosophy and the Mind Sciences. Contributions by Lisa Bortolotti, Chiara Caporuscio, Matteo Colombo, Anya Farennikova, Sascha Benjamin Fink, Sarah Hoffman, Matthew Johnson, Chris Letheby, Aidan Lyon, Joshua M. Martin, Kathleen Murphy-Hollies, Philipp Sterzer.

– Sascha Benjamin Fink & Ying-Tung Lin (2021) The Neural Correlates of Consciousness, Part II. Special Issue in Philosophy and the Mind Sciences. Contributions by Krysztof Dolega, Sascha Benjamin Fink, Karl Friston, Asger Kirkeby-Hinrup, Lukas Kob, Alexander Lepauvre, Holger Lyre, Lucia Melloni, Morten Overgaard, Tobias Schlicht, Chen Song, Wanja Wiese.

– Sascha Benjamin Fink (2020) The Neural Correlates of Consciousness, Part I. Special Issue, Philosophy and the Mind Sciences. With contributions by Jaan Aru, Talis Bachmann, Tim Bayne, Steve Fleming, Jakob Hohwy, Hakwan Lau, Colin Klein, Tomáš Marvan, Matan Mazor, Andrew McKillam, Matthias Michel, Michal Polák, Anil Seth, Mototaka Suzuki.

– Laurie Ann Paul (2020) Was können wir wissen, bevor wir uns entscheiden? Von Kinderwünschen und Vernunftgründen. Mit Nachwort von Sascha Benjamin Fink. Reclam. (German Translation of “What you can’t expect when you’re expecting”.)

– Peter Singer (2018) Linke, hört die Signale! Mit Nachwort von Sascha Benjamin Fink. Reclam. (German Translation of “A Darwinian Left”.)

– Sascha Benjamin Fink, Wanja Wiese & Jennifer Windt (2018) Philosophical and Ethical Aspects of a Science of Consciousness and the Self: A Festschrift for Thomas Metzinger. Special Issue, Frontiers in Psychology.

Journal

“Philosophy and the Mind Sciences” (PhiMiSci, ISSN: 2699-0369) was founded in 2018 by Sascha Benjamin Fink, Wanja Wiese, and Jennifer Windt as a diamond open access journal. It is supported by an international editorial board (3 editors-in-chief, 7 associate editors) and an international advisory board of researchers from both philosophy and the empirical sciences of the mind.

PhiMiSci has published more than 80 peer reviewed articles since 2020 with more than 34.000 file views. Its rejection rate is above 84%. The automated impact-factor calculator “exaly” estimated an impact factor of 1.5 and an h-index of 5 for 2024.

The German Science Foundation (DFG) supported PhiMiSci and the development of its open-access-model with over 770.000 € (Project-Nr. 514161146). Prominent philosophy blogs like Daily Nous and Brains Blog have positively reported on PhiMiSci.

Popular Science

– Fink, S. Benjamin (2022) Die Sinnlichkeit der Cyborgs. In: Ariel Hauptmeier (ed.) Das Gehirn. Zwischen Kunst und Wissenschaft (Ausstellungskatalog). Bundeskunsthalle Bonn. Hirmer.

– Fink, S. Benjamin (2016) Das Doppelleben des Schmerzes. philosophie.ch.

In the Media

– interviewed on Podcast “Lights On” by NYT best selling author Annaka Harris (episode 6)

– interviewed on “AI Consciousness.” Interview with Karsten Wendland (2024) on youtube

– FAZ Article “Wenn Psychedelika auf dem Rezept stehen”(01/2024) on Project PsychedELSI

– FAZ Article (02/2023) on Project PsychedELSI

– interviewed by Andreas Lipinski for Charaktery (2023) “Philosophie und Psychedelika.”

– interviewed for “Grauzone – Der Wert unserer Erinnerung.” Radio feature, MDR/ARD.

– book review of a book edited by S. B. Fink “Was können wir wissen, bevor wir uns entscheiden? (Reclam)” by Elisabeth von Thadden. Die ZEIT.

– discussant on “Die Lust am Abheben: Adrenalinrausch, Flow & Psychedelika” (SRF) with Katrin Preller. 02.05.2019.

– discussant on “Science On: Neurowissenschaften — Was können wir wissen?” Panel discussion with John Dylan Haynes, Sarah Weigelt, Gerd Kempermann, organised by the DFG. Kunsthalle Bonn. 27.11.2018. Livestreamed on YouTube:

– interviewed for “Schmerz und Leid: Geschichte einer Trennung.” Radio feature, MDR Wissen. 24.06.2018.