United Kingdom Kant Society Annual Conference 2019: Problems of Kant’s Philosophy

This year’s UK Kant Society Conference invites philosophers to address textual or systematic problems with Kant’s or Kantian philosophy. We are interested in new takes on old problems, the raising of unnoticed issues, but also defences of Kant against these problems. The conference seeks to attract not only Kant scholars but also speakers who will discuss the broader implications of Kant and Kantians’ work. It aims to bring together research into the various aspects of Kant’s and Kantian philosophy, including critical discussion of its viability and potency for various current philosophical issues.

Keynote Speakers:

Dr Alix Cohen (University of Edinburgh)

Prof. Jens Timmermann (University of St Andrews)

Prof. Kate Moran (Brandeis University)

We welcome submissions from any topic relating to problems in Kant’s and Kantian philosophy, but please see below for some suggested topics: 

 The plausibility and systematic potency of central elements of Kant’s theoretical philosophy:

·       Kant’s account of freedom and nature

·       Transcendental Idealism

·       The idea that reason stands in need of a Critique

·       The relation of Kant’s theoretical philosophy to non-Euclidian geometry, quantum physics or dialetheism

·       Kant and AI

·       Epistemic responsibility, the ethics of belief, and epistemic norms.

The plausibility and systematic potency of central elements of Kant’s practical philosophy:

·       The suitability of rational standards, such as universalizability, as supreme principles of morality

·       The role of motivation for moral worth and moral evaluation

·       The nature and role of maxims

·       The problem of rigorism and overdemandingness

·       Lying and truthfulness

·       Kant’s and Kantian applied ethics in areas such as climate ethics, issues of global poverty and medical ethics.

·       Kant’s and Kantian political philosophy and theories of justice.

·       Economic and other inequality

·       Kant and Kantians on citizenship and refugees

·       Kant and populism

The plausibility and systematic potency of central elements of Kant’s aesthetics, philosophy of the (living) nature, anthropology and philosophy of history:

·       Judgement as mediating between the abstract and concrete and the theoretical and practical use of reason.

·       Kant’s racism, sexism and his take on colonialism.

·       Kant and feminism

·       Kant’s account of aesthetic normativity

·       The role of fine art in Kant’s Third Critique

Criticisms of Kant and Kantians from other thinkers, such as Hegel, Sartre, Anscombe, Foot, Wolf, Parfit.

Submissions:

Please submit proposals of no more than 800 words to [email protected] by April 1st, 2019. Please upload submissions as a pdf attachment and ensure submissions are anonymous.      

We aim to notify applicants of reviewers’ decisions by May 31st, 2019.