Kant studies has experienced philosophically exciting changes over the last three decades. In a philosophical practice that used to primarily focus somewhat narrowly on certain topics in the Critique of Pure Reason, the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, and the Critique of Practical Reason, not only have the Critique of Judgment and The Metaphysics of Morals received increased attention recently but also his many works on history, anthropology, religion, and psychology. Hence, alongside the ideal questions (of reason, the understanding, moral motivation, lawgiving, transcendental idealism, etc.), Kant studies are now also concerned with so-called non-ideal accounts, which include direct and increasingly sophisticated engagements with Kant’s and Kantian participation in oppressive and dehumanizing practices. Some of these engagements aim both to make sure that we know about, for example, Kant’s racism, sexism, and heterosexism, and to explore questions about why many of us who live lives subject to those and other isms still find questions and ideas found in Kant to be deeply animating and important—indeed, so much so that we reenvision Kantian philosophy so that it has something positive to contribute to philosophical discussions about transforming ourselves and our world(s) in good ways. This conference brings together some of the leading Kant scholars to share their own and engage one another’s scholarship on all these topics—ideal and non-ideal alike.
A program and additional information are available on the conference website: https://helgavarden.com/about-this-conference/