Special Issue and Workshop on Kant’s moral philosophy – beyond the strawman
Editors:
Wim Dubbink; Tilburg University – Jens Timmermann, University of St. Andrews, – Micha Werner; University of Greifswald
All great philosophies get misinterpreted. But in the case of Kant’s
moral philosophy, the problem seems particularly bad. Textbook
introductions of Kant’s moral philosophy sometimes seem to have little
to do with what Kant actually said. For example, some of them refer only
to Kant’s /Groundwork/ (1785) in order to prove something about his
applied moral philosophy. Yet in the /Groundwork/ Kant repeatedly states
that we need to cross a few bridges before we may draw any conclusion
for normative ethics – let alone applied normative ethics – from what is
said in the book. The title alone suggests something along those lines:
/Groundwork to the Metaphysics of Morals/: How much further can you move
away from applied ethics in a title? Moreover, it is still quite common
to characterize Kant’s ethics as the paradigm of “deontology”, despite
the fact that the term is used in so many different (and often broad)
ways that it tells us hardly anything true and significant about Kant’s
ethics. Also, while its virtue ethical aspect has gained more attention
during the last three decades, Kant’s moral philosophy is still often
introduced – especially in contexts of applied ethics – as fundamentally
opposed to virtue ethics. Finally, Kant is often portraited as
“rationalist” pur sang in normative matters, while he is only a
rationalist in fundamental matters where he has reasons to conceptualize
human beings /in so far as they are rational/. When it comes to
normative ethics and questions of judgment in individual cases, Kant
emphasizes that we need to rely on other faculties, for reason as the
faculty of principles is insufficient when it comes to concrete judgment.
/The Journal of Ethics/ <https://www.springer.com/journal/10892>would
like to devote a Special Issue to Kant’s moral philosophy – beyond the
strawman. It aims to explore what contribution Kant can make to
contemporary normative and applied ethics. Submissions may focus on
specific issues of (applied) normative ethics or explain aspects of
Kant’s moral philosophy that seem still in need of clarification. The
only requirement is that they must engage with Kant’s original work in
order to go beyond (still common) strawman versions and stereotypes.
Possible topics include but are not limited to:
-Kant on moral judgment in individual cases
-Kant as a virtue ethicist
-The relevance of Kant’s distinction between the doctrine of right and
the doctrine of virtue for Kantian style applied ethics
-Kant on the relevance of emotions (for moral judgment)
-Kant on exceptions to principles
-Kant on international justice
-A Kantian view on artificial intelligence
-Kant on misconduct in organizations
-Kant on human flourishing
-Teleological elements in Kant’s moral philosophy
-Elements of precautionary reasoning in Kant
-Kant on the normative status of (parts of) the human body
-Kant and the modern concept of human rights
-Kant on common moral thinking and the role of moral philosophy
The Special Issue is accompanied by a conference in which (draft)
papers will be discussed. The conference is hosted by the University
of Greifswald and will be held on 27 and 28 May 2025. The conference
will also host a key note lecture for a broader audience. It is
highly recommended to attend the conference but no requirement for
submitting a paper.
Submission instructions
The submission process has three steps. First, a max 500-word abstract
has to be sent to kant25@uni-greifswald.de
<micha.werner@uni-greifswald.de>before 30 October 2024. Authors
of accepted abstracts will be invited to the workshop onTuesday 27 and
Wednesday 28 May 2025at the Alfried Krupp Kolleg Greifswald to present
and discuss the drafts /of their full papers /with other manuscript
authors and experts in the field. Meals are by courtesy of the Krupp
Kolleg. /The/ /Journal of Ethics/ can cover (part of) the hotel costs of
those who most need it.
The completed manuscripts must be submitted to /The Journal of Ethics
/before 1 September 2025. We envision the review process to be finalized
by February 2026. Authors must make use of the standard online EM
system. All manuscripts will go through the standard double-blind
peer-review process according to /The Journal of Ethics/’ guidelines. As
a matter of general policy on special issues, all submission will also
be checked by the editor-in-chief. Interested authors can also submit
their manuscripts without having attended the Greifswald conference. All
manuscripts should be prepared according to the journal’s guidelines
<https://www.springer.com/journal/10892/submission-guidelines>provided
on /The Journal of Ethics/ website.
Any questions with regard to this Special Issue, please address to the
co-editor of the issue, Wim Dubbink at W.Dubbink@tilburguniversity.edu
<W.Dubbink@tilburguniversity.edu>