Current global political challenges, such as mass migration, discrimination, or exploitation require adequate collective and individual responses. In this seminar, we will see what we can learn from Kantian moral and political philosophy to address those challenges. Reviewing Kant´s texts, the secondary literature, and socio-historical scholarship, we will understand their causes and context and reflect on their ethical implications from a Kantian perspective. The text selection will have a strong focus on immigration, one of the most relevant political issues in Europe and Germany today. We will ask, among other things, how exploitation, discrimination, isolation or mere indifference towards immigrants can be explained and criticized with the insights of Kantian ethics.
The seminar has a critical orientation towards Kantian practical philosophy. For that reason, we also study its problematic aspects, which seem to contradict and undermine Kant´s promising ethical lessons. Recent scholarship has brought to our attention that Kant elaborated a theory of race that has racist implications. Furthermore, his stance toward colonialism and racial exploitation is ambiguous. We will dive deep into Kant´s text and secondary literature to ask what implications his theory of race may have for how we understand and apply key concepts of Kantian ethics.
The seminar will include weekly discussion sessions and a workshop towards the end of the semester (date and details will be announced).
Credit points: Students can get graded or ungraded credit points. For the latter, they can take an oral exam or write a term paper.
- Kursleiter/in: Marco Toche Zevallos
- Kursleiter/in: Martina Tomczak