Prof. Dr. Nikola Kompa

Hochschullehrerinnen, Prüfungsausschuss

Albrechtstraße 28a
49076 Osnabrück

Raum: 69/107
Tel.: +49 541 969-7109
nikola.kompa@uni-osnabrueck.de

Lehrveranstaltungen

Wintersemester 2025/26

Projects

  How can we think in a language?

Nikola Kompa's research focusses, on the one hand, on issues at the interface of social and political epistemology and philosophy of language, such as epistemic contextualism, the epistemic role of metaphor in science, but also on bad language. A book on this latter topic, which she wrote together with two colleagues, just came out (2025, C.H. Beck). On the other hand, she is intriqued by the question of how language and thought (or cognition) are intertwined. She is developing a theoretical model of the co-evolution of language and cognition and investigating how language and other cognitive functions relate to, and mutually scaffold, each other. She also examines embodied approaches to language comprehension, and what the cognitive benefits of language in general and of inner speech in particular might be. A book in which she tackles these questions (title: Language, Cognition, and the Way we Think) was publsihed in 2024 (Bloomsbury Academic). Occasionally, she assumes a historical perspective on how (inner and overt) speech augments other cognitive functions. Moreover, she is involved in two interdisciplinary research groups that also address these and related questions. She is PI (and co-speaker) in the DFG-funded RTG Situated Cognition (2017-2026). Moreover, she is PI in a project on the question How can we think in a language? that is jointly funded by the DFG and the FWF, and which she directs together with Christopher Gauker (Salzburg) and Jutta Mueller (who is Mercator fellow in the project).  
 

Outreach (selection)

scobel - Was Stille auslöst - 3sat/zdf, 22.02.2024 
Zeitfragen - Wie wir denken – Die Stimme im Kopf - Deutschlandfunk Kultur, 21.11.24 

General: 

I am currently holding a professorship of Theoretical Philosophy (W3; since 2011). I work on a variety of topics within the field of theoretical philosophy, with a clear focus on issues pertaining to political epistemology on the one hand and language & cognition on the other.

AREAS OF SPECIALISATION

Language & cognition ◊ inner speech ◊ metaphor ◊ bad language ◊ language evolution ◊ social & political epistemology 

AREAS OF COMPETENCE

Language and mind in the 18th century ◊ vagueness ◊ situated cognition

Degrees:

Habilitation in philosophy, University of Muenster/Germany 2008.

Ph.D. in philosophy, University of Munich/Germany 1998 (PhD examination in philosophy/logic & philosophy of science/psychology)

M.A. in philosophy, University of Munich/Germany 1996 (philosophy/logic & philosophy of science/psychology).

Previous Positions:

2009-2011: Assistant Professor of Theoretical Philosophy; University of Bern/Switzerland;  

2002-2009: Assistant, University of Muenster/Germany;  

1999-2002: Lecturer of philosophy; University of Munich/Germany.

Visiting Positions:

2002: Visiting scholar at New York University

1999/2000: Visiting scholar at New York University

Grants, fellowships and awards:

  • PI in a DFG/FWF project on Inner Speech (Osnabrück/Salzburg) (2023-2026)
  • PI in DFG-Research Training Group Situated Cognition (Bochum/Osnabruck) (2017-2026).
  • PI in Joint Israel-Lower-Saxony Research Grant (VW) Is Knowledge relative? PIs: Igal Kvart (Hebrew University); Nikola Kompa (2016-2020).  
  • Prize for Excellence in Academic Research, awarded annually by the Society for the Advancement of the Wilhelms-University at Muenster/Germany (2009). 
  • Spokesperson scientific network “A Priori Justification” (DFG) (2005-2007)
  • Research grant, German Research Foundation (DFG) (2000-2002). DFG-network “A Priori Justification” (2005-2007).  
  • Postdoctoral grant, German Research Foundation (DFG) (1999-2000).
  • Doctoral scholarship, Free State of Bavaria (1996-1998).

SERVICE TO THE PROFESSION

2020-2024Member (and since 10/2020 speaker) of the DFG-Review Board Philosophy (DFG-Fachkollegium Philosophie)
2010-2025Member of 12 hiring committees

Reviewer (journals): Das Philosophische Jahrbuch, Dialectica, Episteme, Erkenntnis, Ergo, Frontiers of Psychology, Grazer Philosophische Studien, Mind & Language, Nous, Philosophical Psachology, Pacific Quarterly, Synthese, The Philosophical Studies, The American Philosophical Quarterly, Thought.

Reviewer (orgnisations): Austrian Scinece Fund (FWF), German Research Foundation (DFG), Fritz-Thyssen Foundation, Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation (AvH), Swiss National Foundation (SNF), Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes,.

Member of the Editorial Boards of Abstracta, Grazer Philosophische Studien, Thought, Philosophisches Jahrbuch.

books & special issues

  • Mueller, J. / Kompa, N. (unter Vertrag). Innere Sprache. (Under contract with C.H. Beck / München). Erscheint voraussichtlich 2026.
  • Henning T. / Kompa, N. / Nimtz. C. (2025). Die dunkle Seite der Sprache. München: C.H. Beck.
  • Kompa, N (2024). Language, Cognition, and the Way We Think. Bloomsbury Academic, London / New York /Dublin (Mind-Meaning-Metaphysics-Reihe, Reihenherausgeber: J Brandl; C. Gauker; M. Kölbel; M. Textor). 
  • Kompa, N. / Kvart, I. / Robitzsch, A. (eds). (2021). The Epistemic Significance of Non-Epistemic Factors. Synthese Topical Collection.
  • Bayertz, K. / Kompa, N. / Strobach, N. (eds.) (2020) Das Projekt einer ‚Idéologie’. Destutt de Tracys Ideenlehre als Wissenschaftsprogramm der Spätaufklärung. Meiner, Hamburg. 
  • Franke, M./ Kompa, N./ Liu, M./ Mueller, J./ Schwab, J. (eds.) (2020). Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 24. ISSN: 2629-6055 (https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de) & (semanticsarchive.net)
  • Kompa, N. (eds.) (2015). Handbuch Sprachphilosophie. Metzler, Stuttgart/Weimar.
  • Kompa, N. / Schmoranzer S. (eds.) (2014). Grundkurs Erkenntnistheorie. mentis, Münster.
  • Kompa, N. / Nimtz, C. / Suhm, C. (eds.) (2009). The A Priori and its Role in Philosophy. mentis, Paderborn.
  • Kompa, N. Metasemantik: Studien zur Theorie sprachlicher Bedeutung (Habilitationsschrift 2008).
  • Kompa, N. (2001). Wissen und Kontext. mentis, Paderborn.


papers, book chapters etc.   

  • Kompa, N (submitted). Peer Commentary on Martina Wiltschko's "The grammar of self-talk. What different modes of talking reveal about language". To appear in Theoretical Linguistics. 
  • Kompa, N. (under review). Inner Speech is All we Need!. 
  • Kompa, N. (submitted). The difference language makes. In: Neil Roughley (Hg). Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Human Nature. Routledge, London & New York.
  • Kompa, N. / Langkau, J. / Schulte, P. (2024). Buchsymposium (Précis und Kommentare von Julia Langkau & Peter Schulte) zu Language, Cognition, and the Way We Think. Zeitschrift für Philosophische Forschung 78.   
  • Kompa, N. (2023). Inner Speech and 'Pure' Thought - Do we think in language? Review of Philosophy and Psychology (online first). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-023-00678-w. The paper can be also be found here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13164-023-00678-w
  • Kompa, N. / Mueller, J. L. (2022): Inner speech as a cognitive tool—or what is the point of talking to oneself? Philosophical Psychology. DOI: 10.1080/09515089.2022.2112164
  • Kompa, N. (2021). Insight by Metaphor – on the Epistemic Role of Metaphor in Science. In: A. Heidenreich / K. Mecke (eds.) Physics & Literature: Theory - Popularization – Aestheticization. Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 23-47. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110481112-002 (open access)
  • Kompa, N. (2021). What good is language? Vygotsky and the cognitive function of inner speech. To appear in: J. Brandl/B. Kobow/D. Messelken (eds.) Analytische Explikationen & Interventionen. Paderborn: Mentis/Brill, 37-49.
  • Kompa, N. (2021). Epistemic Evaluation and the Need for Impure Epistemic Standards. Synthese. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-020-02996-3. (open access) 
  • Kompa, N. (2020). Die dunkle Seite der Sprache: Wie man Menschen verunglimpfen und abwerten kann. In: OsnabrückerJahrbuch Frieden und Wissenschaft >Emotion, Sprache, Politik<. Edited by the mayor of the city of  Osnabrück und the president of Osnabrück Universitity. Göttingen: Vandenoeck & Ruprecht, 173-185.
  • Kompa, N. (2020). Sprache und Denken bei Condillac und Destutt de Tracy – eine kognitionswissenschaftliche Perspektive. In: K. Bayertz/N. Kompa/N. Strobach (eds.) Das Projekt einer ‚Idéologie’. Destutt de Tracys Ideenlehre als Wissenschaftsprogramm der Spätaufklärung. Hamburg: Meiner, 85-102.
  • Bayertz, K./Kompa, N./Strobach, N. (2020). Destutt de Tracy – eine Einleitung. In: K. Bayertz/N. Kompa/N. Strobach (Hgs.) Das Projekt einer ‚Idéologie’. Destutt de Tracys Ideenlehre als Wissenschaftsprogramm der Spätaufklärung. Hamburg: Meiner, 7-13.
  • Kompa, N./ Mueller, J. (2020). How Abstract (Non-embodied) Linguistic RepresentationsAugment Cognitive Control. Frontiers in Psychology 11:1597. Doi: 10.3389/fpsyg. 2020.01597. (open access). 
  • Bergs, A. / Kompa, N (2020). Creativity within and outside the linguistic system. Cognitive Semiotics. DOI: 10.1515/cogsem-2020-2025 (published online 4 Jul 2020, ahead of print). 
  • Kompa, N. (2019). Language and Embodiment – or the cognitive benefits of abstract representations. Mind & Language. DOI: 10/1111/mila.12266 (early view)
  • Kompa, N. (2019). On the Coevolution of Language and Cognition: Gricean Intentions meet Lewisean Conventions. In R. Loukanova (ed.), Logic and Algorithms in Computational Linguistics 2018 (LACompLing2018) (pp.177-205). Cham CH: Springer Nature. URL: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-30077-7_8
  • Kompa, N. (2019). Language Evolution and Linguistic Norms. In N. Roughley & K. Bayertz (Eds.), The Normative Animal? On the Anthropological Significance of Social, Moral, and Linguistic Norms (pp. 245-264). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Kompa, N. (2017). Meaning and Interpretation. In S.-J. Conrad/K. Petrus (eds.) Meaning, Context, and Methodology. De Gruyter, Berlin/New York, 75-90.
  • Kompa, N. (2017). The Myth of Embodied Metaphor. Croatian Journal of Philosophy Vol. XVII, No. 50, 89-104 (Conference Proceedings).
  • Kompa, N. (2016). The Role of Vagueness and Context-Sensitivity in Legal Interpretation. In: G. Keil/R. Poscher (eds.) Vagueness and Law. Philosophical and Legal Perspectives.  Oxford University Press, Oxford, 205-227.
  • Bayertz, K. / Kompa, N. (2016). Mitgegangen, Mitgefangen! Grundzüge moralischen Argumentierens. In J. Ach /. K. Bayertz / M. Quante / L. Siep (eds.) Grundkurs Ethik (Band 1); revised edition. Mentis, Münster, 39-56.
  • Kompa, N. (2016). Faultless Disagreement, Context Sensitivity, and the Semantics of Evaluation. Grazer Philosophische Studien 93, 396-418.
  • Kompa, N. (2015). Metaphern. In: N. Kompa (ed.): Handbuch Sprachphilosophie. Verlag J. B. Metzler, Stuttgart, 341-451.
  • Kompa, N. (2015). Vagheit. In: N. Kompa (ed.): Handbuch Sprachphilosophie. Verlag J. B. Metzler, Stuttgart, 361-371.
  • Kompa, N (2015). Einleitung - Handbuch Sprachphilosophie. In: N. Kompa (ed.): Handbuch Sprachphilosophie. Verlag J. B. Metzler, Stuttgart, 1-4.
  • Kompa, N. (2015). Contextualism & Disagreement. Erkenntnis vol 80, issue 1, 137-152 (special Issue: The inner and outer boundaries of language). DOI: 10.1007/s10670-014-9663-4.
  • Kompa, N. (2014): Knowledge in Context. Rivista Internazionale di Filosofia e Psicologia. Vol 5, No 1: pp. 58-71. DOI 10.4453/rifp.2014.0005; reprinted in Hans Jörg Sandkühler (ed.) (2014): Wissen – Wissenskulturen und die Kontextualität des Wissens. Frankfurt/Main: Peter Lang; pp. 181-198.
  • Kompa, N. (2014). Verstand/Vernunft. In: N. Kompa/ S. Schmoranzer (eds.): Grundkurs Erkenntnistheorie, mentis Verlag, Münster, 381-395.
  • Kompa, N. (2014). Kontextualismus. In: N. Kompa/ S. Schmoranzer (eds.): Grundkurs Erkenntnistheorie, mentis Verlag, Münster, 285-295.
  • Kompa, N. / Schmoranzer, S. (2014): Themen der Erkenntnistheorie. In: Nikola Kompa & Sebastian Schmoranzer (eds.): Grundkurs Erkenntnistheorie, mentis Verlag, Münster, 7-14.
  • Kompa, N. / Eckardt, R. / Moll, H. / Grassmann, S. (2013). Sprache/–Sprachverstehen/sprachliche Bedeutung/Kontext. In: Achim Stefan /Sven Walter (eds.): Handbuch Kognitionswissenschaft. Stuttgart/Weimar: J. B. Metzler: 432-444.
  • Kompa, N (2012). Nonindexical Contextualism – an Explication and Defence. In: Stefan Tolksdorf (ed.): Conceptions of knowledge. Berlin: deGruyter: 329-349.
  • Kompa, N (2011). Epistemic Contextualism and the Problem of (Lost) Disagreement. In Erkenntnistheorie: Kontexte, Werte, Dissens / Epistemology: Contexts, Values, Disagreement -- Beiträge des 34. Intern. Wittgenstein Symposiums, 7.-13 August 2011 / Papers of the 34th Intern. Wittgenstein Symposium, 7.-13 August 2011, Kirchberg am Wechsel, Reihe: Beiträge der Österr. Ludwig Wittgenst. Gesellschaft / Contributions of the Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society, Bd/Vol. XIX, hg. Christoph Jäger & Winfried Löffler, Kirchberg am Wechsel 2011, ISSN 1022-3398, S. 148-151.
  • Kompa, N (2011). Die anthropologische Funktion der Sprache. In: Jan Claas Freienstein, Jörg Hagemann & Sven Staffeldt (eds.): Äußern und Bedeuten – Festschrift für Eckard Rolf. Stauffenburg Verlag, Tübingen: 23-35.
  • Kompa, N. / Meggle, G. (2011). Philosophical Foundations: Pragmatics in Modern Philosophy of Language. In: Handbook of Pragmatics, Vol 1. Berlin/Boston: de Gruyter Mouton; series editors: Wolfram Bublitz, Andreas H. Jucker and Klaus P. Schneider: 203-228.
  • Kompa, N (2010). Contextualism in the Philosophy of Language. In: Klaus Petrus (ed.): Meaning and Analysis: New Essays on H. P. Grice. Pelgrave Macmillan: 288-309.
  • Kompa, N (2009). Analytic Theories of the A Priori. In: N. Kompa/ C. Nimtz/ C. Suhm (eds.): The A Priori and its Role in Philosophy, mentis Verlag, Paderborn: 157-172.
  • Kompa, N. / Nimtz. C. / Suhm, C. (2009). Introduction. In: N. Kompa/C. Nimtz/C. Suhm (eds.) 2009.
  • Kompa, N. (2009). Sprache ohne Kontext – eine semantische Sackgasse?. In: Ulla Wessels, Christoph Lumer und Christoph Fehige (eds.): Handeln mit Bedeutung und Handeln mit Gewalt: Philosophische Aufsätze für Georg Meggle. mentis, Paderborn: 197-214.
  • Kompa, N. (2009). Sprechakt. In: Christin Nimtz/Stefan Jordan (eds.): Lexikon Philosophie: Hundert Grundbegriffe. Reclam, Stuttgart: 254-256.
  • Kompa, N. / Müllan. R. O. / Prien, B. / Schweikard, D. P.  (2008). Successful Action and True Belief. In: B. Prien/D. P. Schweikard (eds.): Robert Brandom: Analytic Pragmatist, ontos verlag, Heusenstamm: 69-77.
  • Kompa, N (2008). Review of Stephen Schiffer’s The Things We Mean”. ProtoSociology, Vol. 25: 216-224.
  • Apel, J. / Kompa, N. / Schmoranzer, S. / Steinhaus, J. (2006). To be Prussian or Not to be Prussian. In: A. Berg-Hildebrand/C. Suhm (eds.): Bas C. van Fraassen. The Fortunes of Empiricism, ontos, Heusenstamm: 45-56.
  • Kompa, N. / Muders, S. / Schmoranzer, S. / Weidemann, C. (2005). Scepticism, Correspondence, and Truth. In A. Vieth (ed.): Richard Rorty. His Philosophy Under Discussion. ontos, Heusenstamm: 97-108.
  • Kompa, N (2005). The semantics of knowledge attributions. Acta Analytica, Vol. 20, Number 1, Issue 33: 16-28.
  • Kompa, N (2004). Welchen Unterschied fängt die Semantik/Pragmatik-Unterscheidung ein?. In: R. Bluhm/C. Nimtz (eds.): Ausgewählte Beiträge zu den Sektionen der GAP.5, Fünfter Internationaler Kongress der Gesellschaft für Analytische Philosophie, Bielefeld, 22.-26. September 2003 / Selected Papers Contributed to the Sections of GAP.5, Fifth International Congress of the Society for Analytical Philosophy, Bielefeld, 22-26 September 2003, (CD-ROM) mentis Verlag, Paderborn: 296-308. Online verfügbar unter: http://www.gap5.de/proceedings/index.htm.
  • Kompa, N (2004). John L. Austin – Sprechakttheorie. In: A. Beckermann/D. Perler (eds.): Reclams Klassiker der Philosophie heute, Reclam, Stuttgart: 623-644.
  • Kompa, N (2004). Moral Particularism and Epistemic Contextualism: A Comment on Lance and Little. Erkenntnis 61: 457-467.
  • Kompa, N (2003). Specifying what is said. In: G. Meggle/C. Plunze (eds.), Saying, Meaning, Implicating, Leipziger Universitätsverlag, Leipzig: 84-98.
  • Kompa, N (2003). David Lewis' funktionalistischer Materialismus: Ein Kommentar zu Heinz-Dieter Heckmanns 'Funktionalismus und Intentionalität. In: U. Haas-Spohn (ed.) Intentionalität zwischen Subjektivität und Weltbezug. mentis, Paderborn: 93-110.
  • Kompa, N (2002). The context sensitivity of knowledge ascriptions. Grazer Philosophische Studien (64): 1-18. 

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