Jan-Paul Sandmann

Jan-Paul Sandmann is a Ph.D. candidate in political theory at Harvard’s Department of Government. Drawing on the thought of Thomas Mann and Theodor W. Adorno, his dissertation project “A Crisis in Art” examines the role art could and should play in our lives. At Harvard, he is a Graduate Affiliate of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, and has assisted in teaching a course on the German philosophical tradition from Nietzsche to Habermas, as well as undergraduate and graduate-level classes in moral and political philosophy. He holds a B.Sc. in Government and Economics and an M.Sc. in Philosophy of the Social Sciences, both from the London School of Economics. During the course of his studies, he has received scholarships from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, the Theodore H Ashford Graduate Fellowship, Harvard’s Center for European Studies, the Safra Center for Ethics, and the Society of Friends of Bayreuth.

Research Project

A Crisis in Art

For thinkers like Thomas Mann and Theodor W. Adorno, art—even, and sometimes precisely because of, its distance from political statements—holds a distinctive promise: it unsettles established certainties, sustains ongoing critique, and provokes deeper questions about the good life. From today’s perspective, however, the insistence on the transformative and critical power of politically ambiguous art can seem increasingly out of step with reality. The most untethered forms of art often leave little lasting imprint on social life, remaining confined to a small circle of connoisseurs. At the same time, the ease with which the call for a society shaped by aesthetic experience has been co-opted raises a pressing political question—not just about the role art could play, but the role it should.
To grapple with art’s uncertain social position, my dissertation revisits a set of fundamental questions: Was the ideal of an art that engages society through estrangement ever truly coherent? Even if coherent, did it possess the strength to endure? Can an artistic tradition shaped by these values find resonance in contemporary society—and if so, in what form? Moreover, what agency should be attributed to art and artists in this regard? Would a broader social shift not be necessary to restore the conditions for its promise?

Research Project

A Crisis in Art

Selected publications

Articles