Kant Reading Group
Easter Term 2012
In Easter Term, we will read papers from a selection of secondary literature on the topics we have covered during Michaelmas and Lent Term, i.e., the Analytic of Principles of the Critique of Pure Reason (1781/1787) and the Analytic of the Critique of Practical Reason (1788). In particular, we will focus on the conception of 'spontaneity of reason', which seems to be all-important in both Critiques. We want to explore the role of spontaneity in theoretical as well as in practical judgments and its connection to the ideas of 'normativity' and of 'transcendental freedom'. We will also look at its specific role within the context of the schematism.
Most papers will be taken from the following selection of readings, among others:
- Henry E. Allison (1996). Autonomy and Spontaneity in Kant's Conception of Self. In: Idealism and Freedom. Cambridge: CUP.
- Stephen Engstrom (2006). Understanding and Sensibility. Inquiry 49 (1): 2–25.
- Susan L. Hurley (1994). Kant on Spontaneity and the Myth of the Giving. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 94: 137–164.
- Thomas Land (2006). Kant's Spontaneity Thesis. Philosophical Topics 34 (1/2): 189–220.
- Douglas Lavin (2004). Practical Reason and the Possibility of Error. Ethics 114 (3): 424–457.
- Robert B. Pippin (1987). Kant on the Spontaneity of Mind. Canadian Journal of Philosophy 17 (2): 449–475.
- Houston Smit (2009). Kant on Apriority and the Spontaneity of Cognition. In Samuel Newlands & Larry M. Jorgensen (eds.), Metaphysics and the Good: Themes From the Philosophy of Robert Merrihew Adams. Oxford University Press.
We will assign the actual readings during the course of the term. Further suggestions for readings are welcome.
Meetings are held in the Lodge Seminar Room, 3.30–5.00pm on Tuesdays, weekly from 1 May to 29 May. They begin with a short presentation and are followed by general discussion. All are most welcome. If you would like to be emailed the details of the readings, please contact Katharina Kraus.