Kant & Post-Kantian German Philosophy Group Talk (James Kreines, Claremont McKenna)

The Kant & Post-Kantian German Philosophy Research Interest Group is pleased to welcome as a speaker James Kreines, a professor in the Department of Philosophy at Claremont McKenna College. Dr. Kreines is an expert on the philosophy of Hegel and Kant and has published two monographs on the former: Reason in the World: The Philosophical Appeal of Hegel’s Metaphysics (Oxford University Press, 2015) and Hegel on Philosophy in History (Cambridge University Press, 2016).

Join the event at:

Passcode: 857825

Talk Title

Metaphysical Systems and the Self-Determining Absolute: Back to Hegel as Modified Spinoza

Talk Abstract

It is an old story: Hegel seeks to advance the spirit of Spinoza’s metaphysical monism, freeing it from some limitations in the letter of the Ethics. But the old story is short on argument. Kant has arguments that rationalist system building is not viable; most who tell the old story see Hegel as trying to meet those arguments with a mere assumption of viability. Further, there’s little sense of how Hegel could engage Spinoza by argument for any need to revise anything. I make a proposal about what is needed in such arguments, and how Hegel plans to provide it; argue that we can fit some familiar features of Hegel’s system together with this proposal; and conclude that the way is open for a new version of the old story to do better.

The Kant & Post-Kantian German Idealism Group is a a subgroup of the History of Philosophy Research Group, which focuses on European philosophy in Kant and post-Kantian traditions.