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

Project Information

DEKANT

Grant agreement ID: 101027095

DOI

10.3030/101027095

Project closed

EC signature date 7 April 2021

Start date 1 September 2021

End date 31 August 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 214 158,72

EU contribution

€ 214 158,72

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITETET I OSLO
Norway

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DEKANT (The Division of Ethics from Political Philosophy: Kant and Baumgarten on Right, Virtue, and Justice)

Reporting period: 2021-09-01 to 2023-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The problem being addressed is the division of ethics from political philosophy in the Kantian tradition. On the one hand, Kant separated political philosophy and ethics significantly clearly. On the other hand, the ethics of Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, Kant's immediate predecessor, handles both the issues of political philosophy and the issues of ethics, so understood in the Kantian tradition. Since the Kantian tradition is so influential in our ways of thinking today, the separation between ethics and political philosophy is no exception in that we tend to think that the issues of political philosophy and those of ethics must be handled separately. Baumgarten's conception of ethics challenges this assumption.

Reflecting on the separation between ethics and political philosophy is important for society, since this separation is imprinted in our minds in solving the issues of political philosophy and those of ethics. But we exclude the possibility of thinking that it might be more fruitful to conceive of a new system of ethics, where the issues of political philosophy and those of ethics, so understood in the Kantian tradition, are solved in a unified manner in that we conceptualise the possible connections between the issues of political philosophy and those of ethics and solve these issues by deconstructing the Kantian tradition of the separation between ethics and political philosophy.

DEKANT is based on the hypothesis that the concept of justice is crucial to seeking this unified system of ethics in that the concept of justice is deployed, both explicitly and implicitly, in both ethics and political philosophy in the Kantian tradition. Thus, the objectives of DEKANT are 1) analysing how justice is the key concept for understanding Baumgarten’s ethics, contrary to our common perception that justice is the object of political philosophy; 2) analysing what ethics means for Baumgarten, given that it includes what we might call both ethics and political philosophy today; 3) analysing why Kant divides what he calls the ‘metaphysics of morals’ into the ‘doctrine of right’ and the ‘doctrine of virtue’, political philosophy and ethics; 4) analysing why Kant uses political and legal terms in the domain of ethics; 5) analysing how Kant handles justice in relation to both ethics and political philosophy; 6) identifying how the existing literature deals with the problems in Kant’s use of political/legal terms in his ethics; 7) identifying how the existing literature deals with the problems in Kant’s division of political philosophy and ethics, right and virtue; 8) evaluating how Kant’s conception of political/legal enforcement at the level of political entities impacts the shaping of ethical principles at the level of individuals, and how this impact could be better captured by Baumgarten’s unified model of ethics and political philosophy; and 9) developing a refined concept of justice to answer the questions spelt out in point 8.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Overview of the exploitation and dissemination actions of the project results:

1 peer-reviewed book contract; 1 conditionally accepted peer-reviewed journal article; 1 peer-reviewed book chapter; 7 peer-reviewed international conference presentations; 2 participations in international conferences without presenting my own papers; 1 participation in an international workshop; 1 organisation of an international conferences; 3 organisations of workshops; 7 presentations at workshops at the host institution

Work performed and results achieved per each work package

WP1:

Data Management Plan

WP2:

A literature review on Baumgarten’s Ethica philosophica

An analysis of the Ethica philosophica

WP3:

A literature revies on Kant's metaphysics of Morals

An analysis of the Metaphysics of Morals

3 presentations of a paper

6 submissions of papers

Participation in the conference 'Law and Morality in Kant'

Organisation of an International Conference 'Right and Virtue: Kant and the Early Modern German Philosophy'


WP4:

A literature review on Kant’s use of political/legal terms in his ethics and his division of political philosophy and ethics

An identification of problems found in the literature review


WP5:

A literature review on how Kant’s conception of political/legal enforcement impacts ethical principles

An evaluation of the problems identified in the literature review

4 presentations of papers

2 submission of papers

Submission of a book review

Organisation of a reading group, invited Jens Timmermann (St Andrews)

Co-organisation of a Philosophical Seminar, invited Timmermann

Organisation of a workshop on Timmermann's book

Submission of a revised version of my book chapter.

Participation in the Kant Reading Party and the workshop 'Kant in Progress'

WP6:

Sending a book proposal

Writing a first draft of three chapters

Signing of a contract for the book Baumgarten's Legacy in Kant's Ethics (Routledge)

WP7:

Creation and maintainance of the project website

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

To what extent DEKANT has impacted society at large is yet to be seen, but I have widely disseminated the results gained from DEKANT through presenting papers at various, some of which are prestigious, international conferences and workshops in Europe, North America, and Japan. Especially, since focusing on the concept of justice in ethics is a new and original approach (this concept has traditionally been handled in political philosophy), this unique approach has become widely known among researchers of Kant studies and Early Modern Philosophy, and my name as a researcher funded by the EU through MSCA and associated with the unique approach has become widely known.

While the results will come out after the end of the project, first, my book chapter 'Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten über Krieg und Frieden' (in Sonja Schierbaum and Dietrich Schotte (eds.), Rechten und Pflichten des Bürgers gegen den Staat in der Philosophie der deutschen Aufklärung. Basel: Schwabe Verlag) is expected have significant impact on scholarship, since it is a paper that has been written for the first time in history on the topic of Baumgarten's political philosophy. Because of the nature of Baumgarten's ethics, this book chapter inevitably considers the relationship between ethics and political philosophy. Since this book chapter will be published by a reputed publisher Schwabe Verlag, which is the oldest printing and publishing house in the world, it is expected to have wider societal implications of the project, which considers the separation between ethics and political philosophy.

Second, my book titled Baumgarten's Legacy in Kant's Ethics is expected to be published in 2024. This book includes a chapter 'Ethics and Political Philosophy', and I put all the results gained from DEKANT into this chapter. As the book will be published by Routledge, a reputed international publisher, and is written in English, this book is expected to have a significant impact not only on scholarship but also on society at large, an impact that has even wider societal implications than those that the above book chapter will have. Even more, this book will be the first monograph on Baumgarten written in English. (Except in aesthetics, for which discipline Baumgarten has been known because he coined the term aesthetics for the first time in history; English books on Baumgarten that have been published so far are only edited volumes; there is only one monograph on Baumgarten written in German.)

osawa.jpg