Deniz Sarikaya

Philosopher of the
formal sciences.

I work on AI, mathematics and logic at the intersections of epistemology, philosophy of language, ethics and cognition.

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Portrait of Deniz Sarikaya
Research · Teaching · Collaboration
Lübeck, Hamburg & beyond
Philosophy of mathematical practice Hinge epistemology AI & ethics Education

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Updated 6 November 2026

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About me

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I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Ethical Innovation Hub of the Universität zu Lübeck (Chair C. Herzog). Since September 2026, I have also been a researcher in the HARMONIE project at the Universität zu Lübeck, which explores AI-assisted ultrasound for breast cancer surgery.

I study how mathematicians develop and use knowledge, and what assumptions make their reasoning possible. In doing so, I draw on Wittgenstein’s hinge epistemology and the philosophy of mathematical practice. I also examine how mathematical methods and AI systems inform decisions, with attention to ethical questions, education and diverse perspectives.

I am a member of the Global Young Academy, the Young Academy of Europe and the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA), and a Young Academy Fellow of the Akademie der Wissenschaften in Hamburg.

I serve on the Council (Vorstand) of the Mathematische Gesellschaft in Hamburg (since February 2024). I have been coordinator of UNESCO World Logic Day since October 2023, after serving as assistant coordinator from October 2020 to September 2023. I also co-founded the Young Network for Wittgensteinian Philosophy. At the Universität zu Lübeck, I support the Committee for the Ethics of Safety- and Security-Relevant Research (KEsF) and help organise its public events.

Science communication and education are important parts of my work. I co-host the aboutlogic podcast and co-founded Campus Möbius, which connects curious young people with researchers. As second chair of the William-Stern-Gesellschaft e.V., I help organise enrichment classes for mathematically gifted young people. I also contribute to public lectures and other outreach activities.

Previously, I worked on the FWO project The Epistemology of Big Data at Vrije Universiteit Brussel and held a DAAD-funded postdoctoral position at the University of Copenhagen and the Technical University of Denmark. I earned my PhD in Philosophy and Moral Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, supervised by Ulrich Gähde and Bart van Kerkhove, after studying philosophy and mathematics at the University of Hamburg.

My research visits include the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy, Universitat de les Illes Balears, the Ethics in IT Group at the University of Hamburg, ETH Zurich and the Ethical Innovation Hub in Lübeck; I also visited the VaViM project at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Institute for Basic Science in South Korea remotely. During my studies, I spent time at the Universiteit van Amsterdam, Universitat de Barcelona, UC Berkeley and the University of British Columbia. See my CV for dates and details.

Academic service & affiliations
Further research interests

Further interests include science and democracy, structuralism, the language and teaching of mathematics, mathematical logic, AI safety, and the philosophy of physics. I also work on decision theory and social choice, and enjoy problems in extremal combinatorics.

Philosophy as a cooperative endeavour

I welcome collaborators for research, writing, events and public discussion, particularly in the philosophy of mathematics, AI ethics, science communication and education.

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Institutional profiles & academic networks

My Lübeck and Brussels pages reflect current affiliations; some biographical details on institutional profiles may be outdated.

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