The Leuven Research Group in Classical German Philosophy (LCGP) invites abstracts for the yearly Leuven Kant Conference. We intend the conference to provide a space for open exchange between established scholars\, early career researchers\, and PhD students. The 2025 edition of the conference is devoted to a particular topic and all speakers will be selected on the basis of their abstracts.
\nWhereas the quest for a new philosophical method was a goal shared by many modern philosophers\, Kant was arguably among the first to take reflections on philosophy to be part of philosophy as such. He conceived of the \;Critique of Pure Reason \;as a court for settling philosophical controversies (Axi) and aimed to establish a new kind of philosophy\, which he called transcendental philosophy. In another context\, he termed this new philosophy a &ldquo\;metaphysics of metaphysics&rdquo\; (AA 10: 269). Kant further used the term &ldquo\;critical philosophy&rdquo\; (AA 05: 5) to denote his inquiries into both the theoretical and practical domains of human rationality. In addition\, Kant distinguished between a scholastic and a cosmic concept of philosophy and conceived of the latter as &ldquo\;the science of the relation of all cognition to the essential ends of human reason&rdquo\; (A 839/B 867)\, thereby suggesting that philosophy is pertinent to existential questions. No less significantly\, in the \;Critique of the Power of Judgment \;Kant claims that the concept of purposiveness is key to bringing together the theoretical and practical uses of reason\, which suggests that teleological motives are central to Kant&rsquo\;s conception of philosophy as a whole. This raises the question as to whether these various accounts of philosophy are coherent.
\nIn view of this apparent plurality\, the conference aims to foreground Kant&rsquo\;s views on the tasks and status of philosophy. While we welcome contributions on any aspect of this theme\, we are particularly interested in papers that address understudied aspects of Kant&rsquo\;s metaphilosophy. Topics may include\, but are not limited to\, Kant&rsquo\;s understanding of:
\n&bull\; \; \; \;the relationship between metaphysics\, transcendental philosophy\, and philosophy as such
&bull\; \; \; \;the scientific nature of philosophy
&bull\; \; \; \;the relationship between philosophy\, mathematics\, and the natural sciences
&bull\; \; \; \;the peculiarity of philosophy in comparison with other expressions of human rationality such as art\, anthropology\, history\, or religion
&bull\; \; \; \;the task of philosophy and the task of the philosopher
&bull\; \; \; \;the cosmic and the scholastic concepts of philosophy
&bull\; \; \; \;the social and/or political dimension of philosophy
&bull\; \; the task of philosophy in relation to the way he actually proceeds in his various works
&bull\; \; the relationship between philosophy and the history of philosophy
&bull\; \; \;the relationship between philosophy and the didactics of philosophy
Abstracts of no more than \;500 words \;should be submitted through the electronic form available at the website. The abstracts\, including the title\, should be prepared for double-blind review by removing any identification details.
\nPresentation time will be 25 minutes + 20 minutes for discussion. We offer a limited number of travel grants to PhD students and other early career researchers without funding of their own.
\nDeadline for submission: \;February 1st\, 2025
Notification of acceptance: \;February 21st\, 2025