Kant, Liberalism, and the Meaning of Life

Session Submission Type: Author meet critics

Session Description

Jeffrey Church has published a book that prompts rethinking about the history of ideas and contemporary political theory. This panel has convened prominent Kant scholars who are well positioned to explain the book’s originality and contribution to addressing the populist challenge to liberalism.

Kant, Liberalism, and the Meaning of Life (Oxford University Press 2022) shows that Kant envisioned his philosophy as providing a purpose for all human beings to achieve freedom. Though Kant did not want the state to legislate morality, his anthropology and history help humans understand their vocation on earth as perfecting themselves as individuals and a species. Professor Church reconstructs Kant’s practical philosophy in a groundbreaking interpretation of Kant’s early lectures on anthropology from the 1760s and 1770s.

Why does this matter? Professor Church shows that Kant’s project provides liberals with a resource to rebut populism and communitarianism. These movements argue, rightly, that human beings want to join a cause larger than themselves as individuals. Professor Church’s reconstructed Kant identifies a liberalism that gives meaning to one’s life and sacrifices.

The panelists have all used Kant to contribute to contemporary political thinking, and we plan to publish the papers from this panel in a symposium, perhaps in The Political Science Reviewer. The panelists and affiliations are:

Jeffrey Church, University of Houston
Elisabeth Ellis, University of Otago
Rita Koganzon, University of Houston (chair)
Peter Steinberger, Reed College
Nicholas Tampio, Fordham University
Robert S. Taylor, University of California-Davis

Sub Unit

• Division 1: Political Thought and Philosophy

Chair

• Rita Koganzon University of North Carolina

Presenters

• Nicholas Tampio Fordham University

• Jeffrey Church University of Houston

• Elisabeth H. Ellis University of Otago

• Peter J. Steinberger Reed College

• Robert S. Taylor University of California, Davis