CFP: Kant’s Concept of Freedom: Transcendental, Moral, Political

CfA: Kant’s Concept of Freedom: Transcendental, Moral, Political (Mainz, Germany, 28–29 September 2026)

We are pleased to announce the call for abstracts for the 5th International Doctoral Colloquium of the Kant-Gesellschaft for 2026, on Kant’s Concepts of Freedom: Transcendental, Moral, Political. The workshop will take place at the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 28–29 September, in collaboration with the Kant-Forschungsstelle Mainz.

Keynote Speakers:

Prof. Pauline Kleingeld (University of Groningen)

Dr. Joe Saunders (Durham University)

The workshop will examine Kant’s multifaceted conception of freedom across his critical and pre-critical works, investigating its transcendental, moral, and political dimensions. Submissions are invited to engage with the following aspects of Kant’s concepts of freedom:

• Metaphysical and cosmological debates: spontaneity and free causality versus empirical temporality.
• Moral-ethical debates: autonomy and the ability-to-do-otherwise; the possibility of free immoral willing; Willkür/Selbstbestimmung.
• Political and juridical debates: external freedom, the Doctrine of Right, and coercion as protection.
• Ethical-theological debates: freedom as a postulate of practical reason; God, immortality, and radical evil.
• Sources and reception: historical influences and transmission of Kantian ideas.
• Debates in the secondary literature and contemporary interpretative controversies.

The call for abstracts is open to all doctoral students working on Kant’s theory of freedom. The abstracts should be suitable for a 30-minute presentation, with 15 minutes for discussion, and they should be about 500 words in length. The workshop languages are English and German. Abstracts should be prepared for anonymous refereeing and be sent to [email protected]. In the same message, please, include your name, institutional affiliation, email address, and paper title.

We will cover travel expenses up to a maximum of €200 and accommodation costs for the doctoral students giving presentations. Details to follow after decisions.

Deadline for abstracts is 15 January 2026.

We aim to send decision letters by mid-February 2026.

For any further queries, please contact Henning Kirschbaum, [email protected], or Lucia Volonté, [email protected].