The Life of Freedom in Kant and Hegel: Book Talk and Discussion with Thomas Khurana

Autonomy is one of the central aspirations of our time, yet there is a growing worry that autonomy, as we have understood and practised it, has not liberated us but subjected us to new forms of domination. In his ground-breaking reinterpretation of Kant and Hegel, Thomas Khurana reveals the source of these problems in the very concept of autonomy and develops a new understanding of human self-determination. While the dominant conception of autonomy gives rise to the paradox of self-legislation and remains caught up in a dualistic opposition of freedom and nature, we can overcome these problems by understanding freedom as a form of life. Elaborating both Kant’s and Hegel’s compelling concepts of life, Khurana shows that we are not autonomous despite or against our living nature, but by inhabiting it in the right way. To understand freedom, we need a critical theory of our second nature.

At this book workshop, Thomas Khurana (University of Potsdam) will give an initial talk on The Life of Freedom in Kant and Hegel, followed by discussion with experts from the philosophical fields addressed in his book. Robb Dunphy (University of Sussex), Eliza Starbuck Little (University of Warwick), and Christoph Schuringa (Northeastern University London) will give responses. The event will be chaired by Jens Pier (Royal Holloway, University of London).

Schedule:
4pm            Welcome
4.10pm        Opening talk by Thomas Khurana
4.30pm        Response by Robb Dunphy
4.50pm        Discussion
5.10pm        Coffee break
5.30pm        Response by Eliza Starbuck Little
5.50pm        Discussion
6.10pm        Response by Christoph Schuringa
6.30pm        Discussion
7.00pm        Closing