Dates: April 19 - 20, 2024

Place: Brown University

This conference will feature panels dedicated to four topics from the philosophical work of Paul Guyer: Aesthetics, Idealism, Kant’s Practical Philosophy, and Kant’s Theoretical Philosophy

Aesthetics:

Noël Carroll (CUNY)

Alexander Nehamas (Princeton)

Rachel Zuckert (Northwestern)

Idealism:

Frederick Beiser (Syracuse University)

Rolf-Peter Horstmann (Humdboldt-Universität zu Berlin)

Sally Sedgwick (Boston University)

 

Kant’s Practical Philosophy:

Heiner Klemme (Martin-Luther Universität Halle-Wittenberg)

Marcy Latta (Bryn Athyn College)

Jennifer Uleman (SUNY-Purchase)

 

Kant’s Theoretical Philosophy:

Uygar Abaci (Penn State)

Lucy Allais (Johns Hopkins University/University of Witwatersrand)

Samantha Matherne (Harvard University)

 

Please Direct any Questions to the Conference Organizers:

Wiebke Deimling (wdeimling@clarku.edu)

Reed Winegar (bwinegar@fordham.edu)

The conference organizers would like to acknowledge the support of both Brown University and the American Society for Aesthetics.

Kant claims that every person has absolute intrinsic worth or value (i.e., dignity); and he also holds that we’re all rationally obligated to dare to think for ourselves (Sapere aude!) on all subjects of personal, moral, and sociopolitical significance (i.e., enlightenment): yet he also defends a legalistic, moralistic, and retributive theory of crime-&-punishment, including capital punishment. Are all of these doctrines consistent and coherent? If so, why? Or if not, why not? And how could any or all of these doctrines be creatively revised, updated, or replaced for contemporary and near-future application and use? This workshop will include presentations not only by scholars working in these areas but also by incarcerated students who are studying Kant’s views.

F R I D A Y, M A Y 1 0 T H

S E S S I O N  1 - C L A R K E  H A L L  # 4 0 6 - 9 : 0 0 A .M.- 1 2 : 0 0 P.M.

* Welcome & Opening Remarks

* Sensen, Oliver - “Dignity and Punishment”

* Lu Jiang, Sun Yat-sen University - “Kant and Dignity” (Remote)

* José Luis Fernández, Fairfield University - “The Freeing of Freedom: Harmonizing Justice and Coercion” (Remote)

S E S S I O N  2 - C L A R K E  H A L L # 4 0 6 - 1 :1 5 - 4 : 0 0 P.M.

* Ekin Erkan, AICA - USA - “Würde in View: A Defense of Objective Values in Kant” (Remote)

* Caleb Barnes, University of Scranton - “On Kant in a Concrete Cell” (Remote)

* Hemmo Laiho, University of Turku - “Dare to know! In post-truth society?”

S A T U R D A Y, M A Y 1 1 T H

S E S S I O N 3 - C L A R K E  H A L L # 4 0 6 - 9 : 0 0 A .M.- 1 2 : 0 0 P .M.

* Karl Ameriks, Notre Dame - “Difficulties with Dignity”

* Ryan Lee, York University - “Protecting the Unconditioned Other: Why Kant Supports Capital Punishment” (Remote)

* Jan Eric Migenda, University of Wuppertal - “Kant on Dignity, Enlightenment, and Punishment (Remote)

S E S S I O N 4 - C L A R K E  H A L L # 4 0 6 - 1 : 1 5 - 4 : 0 0 P .M.

* Zachary Mondragon, Regis University - “Immanuel Kant’s Theory of Punishment” (Remote)

* Jonathan Chavez-Munoz, Regis University - “Kantian and Utilitarian Theories of Punishment (Remote)

* Robert Tierney, University of Houston - “Retribution and Dignity: Some Steps Toward Rehabilitating Hampton’s

Expressive Theory of Retribution”

All sessions are Mountain Time.

All sessions are available via Zoom: https://regis.zoom.us/j/94120773023. Participants must have a registered Zoom account to access the sessions.

This conference was made possible through the generous support of an anonymous donor, the Contemporary Kantian Philosophy Project, the North American Kant Society, and Regis University.

Dates: May 31-June 1

The NAKS Southern Study Group will meet in Columbia, SC at University of South Carolina in May-June.   The keynote speakers will be Katherine Dunlop (UT Austin) and Matt Boyle (University of Chicago).  Paper submission deadline is February 15, 2024.  For more details, please see the NAKS website Southern Study Group pages:  https://northamericankantsociety.org/SSG

As many of you may already be aware, the 14th International Kant-Congress will take place in Bonn in 2024.

(12) Kant on Means, Ends, and Trolleys

Meeting date(s): September 6-7, 2024

Meeting place: Bonn

The conference is co-organized and hosted by the research network Using People Well, Treating People Badly (https://sites.google.com/view/usingpeoplewell) and Digitales Kant-Zentrum NRW (https://kant-zentrum-nrw.de). It will take place right before the 14th International Kant Congress in Bonn. If you plan to attend the congress, please consider arriving early for the conference.

The conference will follow a two-fold structure: On the first day, we will discuss Kant’s thoughts on treating people as mere means vs. ends in themselves, instrumentalization, and the realm of ends. On the second day, we will explore Kantian approaches to the trolley-problem.

September 6 (9 am – 6 pm): Means and Ends

• Melissa Fahmy: Exploitation and Mere Means Use
• Laura Papish: Our Shared Humanity and Exit from the State of Nature
• Corinna Mieth und Martin Sticker: Beyond Non-Instrumentalization: Negative Ends, Mere Things and Mere Enemies
• Garrath Williams: Using People as Not-Mere-Means: the Importance of Equity

September 7 (9 am – 6 pm): Trolleys

• Samuel Kahn: Kantian Trolleyology

• Samuel Kerstein: Out of the Loop 
• Pauline Kleingeld: Was Kant on the Right Track?
• Elke E. Schmidt: Kant’s Argument Not to Turn the Trolley

Additional information:

Organizers: Larissa Berger, Corinna Mieth, Elke E. Schmidt, Dieter Schönecker, and Martin Sticker.  If you plan to attend the conference, please contact Larissa Berger (larissa.berger@uni-siegen.de).