Pierpaolo Betti

Debates on Kant's philosophy that took place during his lifetime largely played out between (a) Kant's followers, (b) critics aligned with Lockean empiricism, Humean skepticism, or Leibnizian rationalism, and (c) early post-Kantians who attempted to overcome the perceived limits of Kant's achievements. Drawing on a distinction made by Kant himself, Reinhold in The Foundation of Philosophical Knowledge (1791) framed the reception of Kant's philosophy by distinguishing between those who dogmatically accepted its 'letter' and independent minds, like himself, who sought to grasp its 'spirit'. However, this influential distinction obscures the enormous variety of the positions that were adopted at the time as well as their complex interrelations. Self-proclaimed Kantians also moved beyond the letter of Kant's text; Kant was attacked from many different directions; and those who appealed to the 'spirit' of Kant's philosophy often defended widely diverging positions. Moreover, early post-Kantians may well have been indebted to Kant's predecessors, defenders, and critics to a larger extent than is commonly acknowledged. Finally, various philosophers who took Kant's insights in new directions during his lifetime do not fit Reinhold's distinction and are today mostly forgotten by anyone but a few specialists. The conference aims to foreground aspects of Kant's early reception that tend to be overlooked by scholarship on either Kant or German idealism and, thus, to shed light on the full spectrum of responses to Kant's critical philosophy from 1781 until his death in 1804.

The conference will feature a combination of on-campus and online talks. The online talks will be fully online, i.e., all participants will join a Zoom meeting regardless of their location. All talks will take place between 1 pm and 7 pm to accommodate different time zones.

Registration, coffee, and lunches are free of charge, but please register at the conference website. For the program, registration and practical information, see:

http://hiw.kuleuven.be/eng/events/leuvenkantconference

Keynote speakers:

Manfred Baum (Bergische Universität Wuppertal)

Andrea Esser (Friedrich-Schiller Universität Jena)

Brandon C. Look (University of Kentucky)

For the full program, registration tool, and further information, see: http://hiw.kuleuven.be/eng/events/leuvenkantconference

University of Leuven
May 28-30, 2020


“The light dove, cleaving the air in its free flight, and feeling its resistance, might imagine that its flight would be even easier in empty space.” (CPR, A5/B8)


Keynote speakers:

Katerina Deligiorgi (University of Sussex, UK)

Patricia Kauark-Leite (Federal University of Minas Gerais, BR)

John Zammito (Rice University, USA)


While the current crisis deeply affects our society in many ways, it need not entail the impossibility of the social and intellectual exchanges that academic conferences provide. In order to create, at this difficult time, a platform where Kant scholars can share their ideas, receive support and feedback, and create new bonds, we decided to organize a modified version of the Leuven Kant Conference by using the video conferencing tool Zoom.

Format
The three keynote lectures will be followed by a response and brief Q&A. The 21 researchers who were originally selected will present papers on various aspects of Kant’s work. The papers have been assigned to seven panels, each of which will last 90 minutes. The papers (3000-4000 words) will be circulated in advance among the participants in a specific panel. In each case, a short introduction by the presenter will be followed by questions and discussion. For this reason, all participants are expected to have prepared questions on the texts. Each panel will consist of a maximum of 20 participants.

Registration is free but obligatory. Please register at the conference website and indicate in which panel(s) you want to participate (with a maximum of 4). Please list them in the order of your preference. All participants who register for at least one panel have access to the keynote lectures. You will receive the papers and Zoom links by email. Deadline for registration: May 15.

For the full program, registration tool, and further information, see: http://hiw.kuleuven.be/eng/events/leuvenkantconference


Organizers
Karin de Boer, Arnaud Pelletier, Simon Truwant, Henny Blomme, Stephen Howard, Luciano Perulli, and Pierpaolo Betti