CFP: Ideas in Kant’s Transcendental Philosophy

Call for Abstracts

Online Workshop for Early Career Researchers

“Ideas in Kant’s Transcendental Philosophy”

December 17–18, 2021

Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University (IKBFU), Kaliningrad

Organized by the “Kantian Rationality Lab”

Organizers:

Prof. Dr. Vadim Chaly (IKBFU, Kaliningrad)

Dr. Michael Lewin (IKBFU, Kaliningrad)

Dr. Rudolf Meer (University of Graz)

Deadline for submissions: October 25, 2021

Notifications of acceptance: November 10, 2021

At the end of the 18th century, the concept of idea underwent a fundamental change in meaning, largely due to its use in Kant’s transcendental philosophy. After ‘idea’ had become a synonym for any content of consciousness (representation) in early modern philosophy, Kant redefined and restricted its meaning in an independent way. In the Transcendental Dialectic of the Critique of Pure Reason, ideas are discussed in two ways. First, Kant refutes an illegitimate “transcendental” use of ideas and, second, introduces a legitimate, “immanent”, and more specifically “regulative” use by means of which “the systematic of cognition, i.e., its interconnection based on one principle” (A 645/B 673), is developed. Moreover, in the Teleological Judgment of the Critique of the Power of Judgment, Kant takes up again the concept of a “natural purpose” as an “idea of a whole” (KU AA V, 373), which serves as a regulative-heuristic concept. From the regulative use of ideas Kant distinguishes the practical use, which, in contrast, is objectively valid insofar as with them reason really brings forth what its concept contains (A 328/B 384–5). Accordingly, if what was originally conceived is realized through practical action, the practical idea gains objective validity by virtue of the realization of an action. These and other different concepts of idea (such as postulates, aesthetic, political, religious, and architectonic ideas) are spread throughout Kant’s works, including smaller writings, such as Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose (1784), What Does it Mean to Orient Oneself in Thinking? (1786), The Conflict of the Faculties (1798) etc.

Aims

The online workshop aims at providing a forum for intense discussion of the different roles and the value of ideas in Kant’s critical period. It will consist of three sections, each led by a keynote speaker.

1)      Ideas in Kant’s transcendental and practical philosophy.

Keynote speaker: Prof. Dr. Marcus Willaschek (Goethe University Frankfurt).

2)      Ideas in Kant’s philosophy of science.

Keynote speaker: Prof. Dr. Thomas Sturm (Autonomous University of Barcelona).

3)      Ideas in Kant’s theoretical philosophy.

Keynote speaker: Prof. Dr. Karin de Boer (Catholic University of Leuven).

Submission

We invite junior researchers (pre-docs and postdoctoral researchers who are at the early stages of their academic careers) to present their work-in-progress relating to the subject outlined above. If you would like to present a paper, please send to the organizers a .pdf abstract of ca. 500 words, suitable for a 60-minute presentation (30+30). The abstract should be suitable for blind review. Please make sure that the body of the e-mail to which the abstract is attached contains your name, institutional affiliation, and the title of the paper. The deadline for submissions is October 25, 2021. Notifications of acceptance will be sent out by November 10, 2021. The full manuscript must be submitted to the organizers prior to the workshop to be made available to the keynotes and other participants.

Members of underrepresented groups in philosophy are strongly encouraged to apply.

Please, send submissions to [email protected], [email protected]. If you have any queries or questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.