Speakers:
Rainer Forst (Goethe University Frankfurt): “Kantian Republicanism and the Grounds of Democracy”
Michael Gregory (University of Edinburgh): "Kantian Democracy and Administrative Discretion"
Paul Guyer (Brown University/University of Pennsylvania): "Forma imperii and Forma regiminis: The Form and the Spirit of Republican Government."
Jakob Huber (Freie Universität Berlin): "Kant and democratic hope"
Michael Kryluk (University of Oslo)
Reidar Maliks (University of Oslo)
Kjartan Koch Mikalsen (Norwegian University of Science and Technology): "Kant’s Rousseauvian Defense of Representative Government"
Marie Newhouse (University of Surrey): "Kant on Civil Discourse"
Japa Pallikkathayil (University of Pittsburgh): "Constitutional Protections in the Kantian State"
Arthur Ripstein (University of Toronto)
Nicholas Vrousalis (Erasmus University Rotterdam): "Kant and Economic Democracy"
Elisabeth Widmer (University of Oslo): “The Contestatory Nature of Citizenship in Kant”
Would you like to attend? Please register here by September 5.
Even though Kant did not use the word democracy to describe his ideal of a rightful association, he was committed to the view that “the legislative authority can belong only to the united will of the people” (6:313), that citizens must have the right to vote, and that every constitution must be republican. Yet essential components of Kant’s commitment to popular sovereignty are not well understood.
This conference opens for contributions on numerous topics. Some questions concern the significance of consent for freedom: What difference does the democratic process make to the justice of law? How should we think of concepts like legitimacy, authority, and obligation in light of a Kantian theory of democracy? Other questions have to do with equality and inclusiveness: Who should be included as a citizen with the right to vote and on what grounds? How are the national boundaries of the demos justified? Further questions concern the institutional components of Kant’s account, including the nature and purpose of voting, representation, the separation of powers, and the connection of the democratic process to the public sphere. Questions of rights and duties in the transitions to democracy (and away from democracy) are also highly relevant. The conference investigates these questions and more, and attention will be paid to situating Kant’s view in the context of eighteenth century philosophy.
In 2024 some of the world’s largest democracies go to elections in the midst of numerous challenges: Populism, voter apathy, disinformation, distrust, economic inequality, unregulated use of money in politics, executive and judiciary overreach, insurrections, nationalism, and war. The time is right to think carefully about the nature and justification of democracy that can be found in Kant’s philosophy.
The conference is part of the project KanDem – Kantian Foundations of Democracy, funded by The Research Council of Norway and devoted to analyzing the democratic theory of the Kantian School in Germany in the 1790s.
Organizer: KanDem, with additional support from The Norwegian Kant Society. Contact: Reidar.maliks@ifikk.uio.no