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The Division of Ethics from Political Philosophy: Kant and Baumgarten on Right, Virtue, and Justice

Project description

On ethics and Kant philosophy

German philosopher Immanuel Kant separated the domains of ethics and political philosophy. For the past 20 years, philosophers have been trying to understand why Kant made a clear separation between the ‘doctrine of virtue’ and the ‘doctrine of right’. However, a complete understanding is still missing. The key is the conceptual apprehension of the legacy of Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten in Kantian philosophy. The EU-funded DEKANT project will shed light on the intellectual foundation of ethics and demonstrate how it can reclaim its interrelation with political philosophy by analysing the contribution of Baumgarten. The project builds on the hypothesis that new understanding will prove the advantage of a unified model of ethics to address concrete contemporary problems.

Objective

Ethics and political philosophy are integral to human individual activities and social interactions, and yet modern philosophy since Immanuel Kant has reinforced the separation of these two domains. DEKANT aims to resolve the confusion in the intellectual foundation of ethics and show how it can reclaim its interrelation with political philosophy. It will achieve this aim by analysing the long-neglected, yet significant, influence of Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten on Kant’s division of ethics from political philosophy, or what Kant calls the ‘doctrine of virtue’ from the ‘doctrine of right’. Although, over the past 20 years, philosophers have struggled to understand why Kant separated so clearly between the two domains, we still do not have a complete grasp of this separation. The key to understanding this separation is the conceptual apprehension of Baumgarten’s legacy in Kant’s philosophy. By filling the knowledge gap and gathering fresh insights into an important but neglected figure in the history of philosophy, we can gain an improved understanding of a crucial distinction in Kant’s philosophy. DEKANT’s hypothesis is that this new understanding proves the advantage of a unified model of ethics for resolving concrete contemporary problems. By contrast to Kant’s dualist model of ethics/political philosophy in which the concept of justice is employed in the domain of the ‘doctrine of right’ alone, Baumgarten’s unified model of ethics, which includes both ethical and political theory, centrally incorporates the concept of justice. Analysing the influence of Baumgarten on Kant will thus show that developing a refined concept of justice is important for answering the questions arising from the tension between ethics and political philosophy. Working closely with Professor Reidar Maliks, a world-renowned expert in Kant and contextual methods, DEKANT will establish me as a leading scholar and enable me to obtain a tenured position in philosophy.

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MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITETET I OSLO
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 214 158,72
Address
PROBLEMVEIEN 5-7
0313 Oslo
Norway

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Region
Norge Oslo og Viken Oslo
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 214 158,72
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