The judges for the 2015 Wilfrid Sellars Essay Prize are pleased to announce that the winner for this year’s competition is Mavis Biss, author of “Kantian Moral Striving.”

Mavis Biss completed her PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2011 and is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Loyola University Maryland. She specializes in moral philosophy, with particular focus on Kantian ethics and conceptions of moral imagination. Her recent publications include: “Radical Moral Imagination: Courage, Hope and Articulation,” Hypatia (2013), “Moral Imagination, Perception and Judgment,” The Southern Journal of Philosophy (2014), and “Empathy and Interrogation,” International Journal of Applied Philosophy (2014). Her current work deals with the ideal of moral self-perfection in Kant’s ethics and the complexities of rational agency in the face of contested moral meaning.

Abstract for “Kant’s Moral Striving:”

The paper focuses on a single question that highlights some of the most puzzling aspects of Kant’s explanation of the duty of moral self-perfection. What kinds of activity count as striving for purity in one’s disposition to duty or strength of will? I argue that a dominant strand of Kant’s approach to moral striving does not fit familiar models of striving. I seek to address this problem in a way that avoids the flaws of synchronic and atomistic approaches to moral self-discipline by developing an account of Kantian moral striving as an ongoing contemplative activity complexly engaged with multiple forms of self-knowledge.

The judges for the 2015 Wilfrid Sellars Essay Prize also gave an honorable mention to Reed Winegar for his “Kant's Criticisms of Hume's Dialogues concerning Natural Religion.”

Reed Winegar is an assistant professor of philosophy at Fordham University. He received his BA from Harvard in 2005 and his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 2012. In 2015/16 he will be a VolkwagenStiftung/ Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities at the Freie Universität in Berlin. His essay "Kant's Criticisms of Hume's Dialogues concerning Natural Religion" is forthcoming in the British Journal for the History of Philosophy. Other published work has appeared (or is forthcoming) in the Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie, Hegel Bulletin, and Journal of Scottish Philosophy. His current research focuses on Kant's criticisms of metaphysics and on issues in Kant's 3rd Critique.

Abstract for “Kant’s Criticisms of Hume’s Diaglogues concerning Natural Religion:”

According to recent commentators, Kant agrees with Hume's Dialogues concerning Natural Religion (1) that physico-theology can never provide knowledge of God and (2) that the concept of God, nevertheless, provides a useful heuristic principle for scientific enquiry. This paper argues that Kant, far from agreeing with Hume, criticizes Hume's Dialogues for failing to prove that physico-theology can never yield knowledge of God and that Kant correctly views Hume's Dialogues as a threat to, rather than an anticipation of, his own view that the concept of God provides a useful heuristic principle for science. The paper concludes that Kant's critique of physico-theology reflects Kant's deep dissatisfaction with Hume's manner of argumentation and suggests that Kant's attempt to provide a more successful critique of physico-theology merits continued philosophical attention.

Both essays can be found in the members-only section of our website under “Sellars Prize”.    

As members of NAKS, we are committed to promoting Kant-scholarship and Kantian philosophy in all its forms. No one who shares these basic aims should be prevented, for monetary reasons only, from joining and participating in NAKS. Yet, at the same time, as a relatively small society, we depend primarily on membership dues to support a growing number of activities and prizes. Since we have not raised dues since 2009, we decided it was time to revisit our financial structure and adopt what we believe is the most fair model for our society.

Here are the main results of our deliberations:

1. To maintain the current membership dues of graduate students, retired people, and the unemployed.
   
   
2. To create a new category of members for those holding ånon-tenure track jobs to encourage and facilitate their participation.
   
   
3. For reasons of fairness, to create a more nuanced dues structure for those holding tenure track jobs or who are already tenured.
   
   
4. Finally, to introduce a “hardship clause” that would allow members to waive paying their dues under extenuating circumstances and for a limited period.
   
   

Moving forward, this is the new membership structure at a glance:

• Category 1: students, retired, or unemployed members, including all international members who fall under those descriptions.
  Dues: $10.00 per year.
  
  
• Category 2: non-student, employed but non-tenure track members, including all international members who fall under those descriptions.
  Dues: $20.00 per year.
  
  
• Category 3: tenure track or tenured members, with annual income up to $70,000.00, including all international members who fall under those descriptions.
  Dues: $35.00 per year.
  
  
• Category 4: tenure track or tenured members, with annual income between $70,000.00 and $100,000.00, including all international members who fall under those descriptions.
  Dues: $40.00 per year.
  
  
• Category 5: tenure track or tenured members, with annual income between $100,000.00 and $130,000.00, including all international members who fall under those descriptions.
  Dues: $45.00 per year.
  
  
• Category 6: tenure track or tenured members, annual income more than $130,000.00, including all international members who fall under those descriptions.
  Dues: $50.00 per year.

Call for Translators

Kant’s Sources in Translation is a new series being published by Bloomsbury. Its goal is to provide the background essential to understanding the genesis of Kant’s thought by bringing together English language editions of the works that influenced Kant’s philosophical development.

The first two translations are due out next year, Preparation for Natural Theology by Johann August Eberhard (Translated by Courtney Fugate and John Hymers) and Excerpts from the Doctrine of Reason by Georg Friedrich Meier (Translated by Aaron Bunch in collaboration with Axel Gelfert and Riccardo Pozzo).
We are now looking for skilled translators of Latin and German to translate future titles planned for the series, making these influential works accessible in English, often for the first time. This would involve working on texts including:

• Jus naturae inusum auditorium by Gottfried Achenwall
• Initia philosophiae practicae primae acroamatice by Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten
  
• Ethica philosophica by Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten.

Translators will be paid a fee and royalties on both the hardback and paperback edition. If you are interested in translating for the series and would like to discuss the role further, please contact Colleen Coalter, Philosophy Commissioning Editor at Bloomsbury: colleen.coalter@bloomsbury.com

Series Editors

Lawrence Pasternack, Oklahoma State University

Pablo Muchnik, Emerson College

This project arises with a clear Latin American scope, without renouncing to a Kantian cosmopolitan vocation. Issue 01 shall furnish a concrete idea of the sections that integrate this new journal and also a call for papers for taking part in the following issues. This endeavour could only go forward through the greatest possible participation of Kant scholars, according to their plurality, without exclusions of any kind. Con-textos Kantianos is an e-journal devoted to Kantian studies with a biannual periodicity, which will alternate open-submission issues and single-topic issues coordinated by two editors. All submitted manuscripts will undergo a peer review assessment. The journal will rely on the cooperation of an editor in chief, four assistant editors and an executive secretary, all provided with a long editorial experience at different journals (such as Isegoría, Dianoia, Revista Latinoamericana de Filosofía, Ideas y Valores or Estudos Kantianos). The periodical will also receive the support of five book review editors, which cover all accepted languages of the journal. The editorial team will assign and coordinate the tasks of the editorial and advisory boards. The contents of the journal will be divided into five sections: interviews with international Kant scholars, articles, discussions, translations of Kant ́s texts into Spanish, book reviews, and a newsletter with information about Kant-related Congresses, Workshops and Societies activities. The accepted languages for submission will be, other than Spanish: English, German, French, Portuguese and Italian.

We would like finally to thank the warm and great reception granted to this project, which arose guided by a spirit of integration and which has been spread by several colleagues and institutions. It helped to broaden the original member list of both boards.

Kind regards,
CTK Editorial Executive Team and CTK Executive Secretary
Roberto R. Aramayo, María Julia Bertomeu, Catalina GConzález, Eduardo Molina, Efraín Lazos Ochoa and Nuria Sánchez Madrid

Estudos Kantianos is a new electronic journal published by the Centro de Pesquisas e Estudos Kantianos "Valerio Rohden" [CPEK] in Brazil. It is devoted to the analysis and interpretation of Kant’s writings, as well as debates regarding its reception and legacy. The journal appears twice a year, July and December, and is edited by Professor Ubirajara Rancan de Azevedo Marques. Last issue’s contents can be found here: http://www.marilia.unesp.br/Home/Departa mentos/dfil/cpek/estudos-kantianos-v .2n.2_2 014.pdf

Estudos Kantianos accepts papers, reviews, and new translationson any aspect of Kant’s philosophy. Texts can be written in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. For more information, please write to Professor Azevedo Marques at ubirajara.rancan@gmail.com

• 2014

Mavis Biss, author of “Kantian Moral Striving.”

• 2013

Owen Ware, author of “Self-Love and Self-Conceit in Kant’s Moral Psychology."

• 2012

Eric Entrican Wilson, author of “Kant on Autonomy and the Value of Persons.”

• 2011

Ernesto Garcia, author of "A New Look at Kantian Respect for Persons."

• 2010
  

Matthew C. Altman, author of "What Kant Has to Teach Us About Same-Sex Marriage."

The Markus Herz Prize started in the Fall of 2000. At that point, only the Midwest Study Group existed. Since then, NAKS experienced continuous growth: the Pacific Study Group was formed in 2002, the Eastern Study Group in 2004, and our newest addition, the Southern Study Group, in 2009. The Markus Herz prize is awarded to the best graduate student paper, which is selected from the pool of best student papers presented at each regional meeting.


Prize Winners

• 2015

Aaron Wells, "Mechanical Inexplicability and Intensive Magnitudes"

• 2015

Naomi Fisher, "Kant, Schelling, and the Philosophy of Nature"

• 2014
  

Bennet McNulty, "Rehabilitating the regulative Use of Reason: Kant on Empirical and Chemical Laws."

• 2013
  

Daniel Smyth, "Infinity and Giveness: Kant on the Intuitive Roots of Spatial Representation," presented at the second Biennial NAKS conference at Cornell University in May, 2013.

• 2012
  

Mohammad Reza Karim Hadisi, “Kant's Transcendental Arguments, Hegel's Dialectical Method and Pyrrhonism,” presented at the ninth meeting of the Eastern Study Group at Princeton University.

• 2011

Samuel Kahn (Stanford University), "Conscience," presented at eight meeting of the Eastern Study Group in April 2011 at Boston College.

• 2010

Ryan Kemp (University of Notre Dame), "The Contingency of Evil,"  presented at the first meeting of the Southern Study Group in March 2010.

• 2009

James Hebbeler (University of Notre Dame): "Kant on Necessity," presented at the Pacific Study Group (UC Irvine) in October of 2008.  James is now Assistant Professor at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia.

• 2008

James Messina (University of California, San Diego): "Spatial Relations, Different Places, and the Possibility of Co-Existence: The First Metaphysical Exposition Revisited," presented at the Pacific Study Group. Messina is now finishing his dissertation.

• 2007

Clinton Tolley (University of Chicago): "'Umfang' as a Technical Term in Kant's Logic," presented at the Pacific Study Group. Tolley currently teaches at the University of California, San Diego.

• 2006

Joshua Brown (University of Michigan): "Spatial Infinity and the Intuition of Space," presented at the Pacific Study Group. Brown currently teaches at the University of Houston.

• 2005

Helga Varden (University of Toronto): "Kant and Dependency-Relations," presented at the Midwest Study Group. Varden currently teaches at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

• 2004

Bradford Cokelet (Northwestern University): "Individual and Social Dimensions of the Struggle Against Evil in Kant’s Religion," presented at the Midwest Study Group. Crokelet currently teaches at University of Miami.

• 2002-2003

Desmond Hogan (Yale University): "Intelligibility and Ideality: Crusius, Kant, and a 'Neglected Alternative,” presented at the Pacific Study Group. Hogan currently teaches at Princeton University.

• 2001

Joseph Cannon (Northwestern University): "Intention and Fine Art in the Critique of Judgment,” presented at the Midwest Study Group.  Cannon currently teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

• 2000

Ernesto Garcia (Columbia University): "The Historical Development of Virtue in Kant’s Ethical Theory,” presented at the Midwest Study Group. Garcia currently teaches at University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  

As is well known to any student of Kant, Mary Gregor’s translations of the Groundwork, Critique of Practical Reason, the Metaphysics of Morals, and several other works, have exerted tremendous influence on contemporary scholarship and constitute a substantial contribution to The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant. Mary Gregor also was the author of important interpretive work on Kant’s practical philosophy: her 1963 Laws of Freedom, for instance, remains one of the best monographs on Kant’s Metaphysics of Morals.

 

In recognition of the importance of her work, NAKS has sponsored a lecture series at the APA Central Division Meeting for the past twelve years. The series originated thanks to an anonymous donation after Gregor’s death in 1994. Pauline Kleingeld, NAKS president at the time, decided to name an annual lecture series after Mary Gregor, and to use the donated funds specifically for this purpose.

 

The main goal of the series is to invite distinguished Kant scholars from outside of North America to speak to NAKS members and their guests on relevant issues in Kant’s practical philosophy. Rolf-Peter Hostmann was the first lecturer in 2002. Since then, NAKS has featured:

 

• 2015: Claudio LaRocca

• 2014: Bernd Ludwig

• 2012: Heiner Klemme

• 2011: Jens Timmermann

• 2010: Georg Mohr

• 2009: Graham Bird

• 2008: Katrin Flikschuh

• 2007: Zeljko Loparic

• 2006: Marcus Willaschek

• 2005: Jürgen Stolzenberg

• 2004: Manfred Kuehn

• 2003: Howard Williams

• 2002: Rolf-Peter Hostmann

 

For various budget reasons, and in order to better support our projects and serve our members, last year the NAKS Executive Committee decided to make the Gregor Lecture a biennial event, instead of an annual event as we have done so far. The 2014 Gregor Lecture is the first in that biennial cycle. 

 Members will find some of the Gregor lectures in the members-only section of our website

Due to the increasing volume of notices from our members, we have decided to set some guidelines for future submissions of information to the Newsletter.

Please submit relevant information intended for inclusion in the Newsletter by the 25th of the month prior to publication.

The deadlines for the four annual issues are:

• For the March Issue–February 25
• For the June Issue–May 25
• For the September Issue–August 25
• For the December Issue– November 25

We cannot guarantee publication of your announcements after the designated deadline. All announcements must be sent in a Word or .rtf file (not .pdfs). For conferences and calls for papers, please follow the following format:

• Conference Title
• Meeting dates
• Meeting place
• Brief Description(if pertinent)
• Schedulewithnamesofchairsandparticipants, complete institutional affiliation, and paper title (if applicable).
• Additional information

  NB: Time-sensitive material, such as job opportunities, is announced through our e-mail system as well as in the Newsletter when appropriate. To avoid electronic overload, we limit e-mail reminders about upcoming conferences to events directly related to NAKS, e.g., NAKS Study Group meetings, APA/NAKS-sponsored sessions, and the Biennial National NAKS Meeting. All other events of interest to our community are published in the regular course of the Newsletters and must be submitted by the respective deadlines.

The Luxembourg National Research Foundation has recently fully funded the first year of the three-year contemporary Kantian philosophy (CKP) project, which Robert Hanna (Univ. of Colorado, Boulder) will carry out in collaboration with Dietmar Heidemann at the University of Luxembourg, where Professor Hanna will also be a visiting research professor for the full academic year 2013-14.

The CKP project is a three-stage exploration of Kantian themes in contemporary philosophy, whereby Professor Hanna will work in close association with an “inner circle” of University of Luxembourg philosophy researchers, other faculty members, and graduate students, and also an “outer circle” of young philosophical researchers working at universities in Finland, Germany, Norway, and the UK:

• Angela Breitenbach (Univ. of Cambridge UK)
• Sacha Golob (King's College London UK)
• Toni Kannisto (Univ. of Oslo, Norway)
• Hemmo Laiho (Univ. of Turku, Finland)
• Thomas Land (Univ. of Cambridge UK)
• Kristina Musholt (London School of Economics UK)
• Sasha Newton (Univ. of Leipzig DE/Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign USA)
• Andrew Stephenson (Univ. of Oxford UK)

The overall aim of the project is to explore the nature of human cognitive and practical rationality from a contemporary Kantian point of view, in a collaborative and international setting. The project’s three-part focus is on philosophy of mind & knowledge, the metaphysics of free will and persons, and applied Kantian ethics/philosophical anthropology.

More precisely, the basic topics for 13-14 will be in the areas of the philosophy of mind, epistemology, cognitive semantics, philosophical logic, and metaphysical issues associated with these. In 14-15, the basic topics will be in the areas of the metaphysics of free will, action/agency, and persons. And the basic topics for 15-16 will be in the areas of meta-ethics, normative ethics, applied ethics, philosophical anthropology, and practical philosophy more generally.

In 14-15 and 15-16, the CKP group at Luxembourg will also be mirrored by a CKP group centered at the University of Colorado, Boulder, growing out of Professor Hanna’s existing Intuitions in Philosophy Research Group there.

During 13-14, the activities of the CKP project include five two-day workshops at the University of Luxembourg, at each of which five or six papers will be presented and discussed:

Workshop 1: “Kant's Philosophy of Mind & Knowledge: Transcendental Deduction - Schematism – Principles”

28-29 October 2013

 

Presenters:

1. Robert Hanna (Univ. of Colorado/Univ. of Luxembourg), “Blind Intuitions, Essentially Rogue Objects, and Categorial Anarchy”

2. Matthias Birrer (Univ of Luxembourg, LU), TBA

3. Kristina Engelhard (Univ. of Cologne, DE), TBA

4. Anil Gomes (Univ. of Oxford UK), TBA

5. Dietmar Heidemann (Univ. of Luxembourg LU), TBA

6. Colin McLear (Univ. of Nebraska at Lincoln USA), TBA

 

Workshop 2: “Intentionality & Mental Content from a Contemporary Kantian Point of View”

9-10 December 2013

 

Presenters:

1. Lucy Allais (Sussex UK/Witwatersrand SA), TBA

2. Karl Ameriks (Univ. of Notre Dame USA), TBA

3. Sacha Golob (King's College London UK), TBA

4. Thomas Land (Univ. of Cambridge UK), TBA

5. Kristina Musholt (London School of Economics UK), TBA

6. Andrew Stephenson (Univ. of Oxford UK), TBA

 

Workshop 3: "Perception, Judgment, & Logic from a Contemporary Kantian Point of View"

10-11 March 2014

 

Presenters: TBA, but includingundefined

 

1. Hemmo Laiho (Univ. of Turku, Finland), TBA

2. Jessica Leech (University of Sheffield, UK), TBA

3. Sasha Newton (Univ. of Leipzig DE/Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign USA)

4. Michael Potter (Univ. of Cambridge), TBA

 

Workshop 4: “Intuitions  & A Priori Knowledge from a Contemporary Kantian Point of View”

2-3 June 2014

 

Presenters:  

1. Angela Breitenbach (Univ. of Cambridge UK), TBA

2. Andrew Chapman (Univ. of Colorado at Boulder USA), TBA

3. Thomas Grundmann (Univ. of Cologne DE), TBA

4. Farid Masrour (Harvard Univ. USA), TBA

5. Toni Kannisto (Univ. of Oslo, Norway), TBA

 

Workshop 5:  “Workshop with Paul Guyer”

Dates TBA

 

Presenters: TBA, but includingundefined

1. Paul Guyer (Brown University USA)

 

For further information on the CKP activities, contact either Professor Hanna (Robert.Hanna@Colorado.edu) or Professor Heidemann (dietmar.heidemann@uni.lu). Updated information is also available at: philosophie.uni.lu.