Periodic Reporting for period 2 - KANTINSA (Kant in South America)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2020-01-01 do 2023-08-31
The project was important for society for at least two main reasons:
1) participants have deepened their knowledge of Kant's philosophy through mutual exchange of ideas and experiences. This enhanced our understanding of key issues in epistemology, moral theory, and political theory. Given the complexities of our societies, a better grasp of a great philosopher's take on these issues has a positive impact on societal problems ranging from the place that science and philosophy should have in advanced democracies, the way in which certain moral dilemmas are debated by public opinion, and the assessment of our liberal democratic societies, in terms of achievements and unmet challenges.
2) the creation of a large network of research between the EU and South America directly improved the competitiveness of EU research in our field. Moreover, indirectly, the same network made the first moves towards establishing permanent institutional collaboration that affords opportunities for training and education whose benefits extend well beyond the circle of participants.
The project successfully pursued the following three main objectives:
a) Making the results of Southern American Kantian research better known among the participants of the projects and available to a wider academic public in European institutions.
b) Strengthening the already existent but not fully developed cooperation among Southern American and European Kant scholars, which was limited to personal contacts with rare institutional ties at the time of the project's beginning.
c) Producing new original research (in the forms of publishable papers and monographs), facilitated by secondments and prepared by teams of staff members grouped according to their subarea of specialization within Kant studies (theoretical, moral, and political).
From a more practical perspective, the impact was mainly related to the improvements of the career prospects of participants through the acquisition of new and original scientific knowledge, enabled by the exchange, and more in general through the acquisition of an experience of research abroad. A third of the project participants were young scholars with a limited record of research abroad. Participation in the project represented an excellent opportunity to increase their chances of reaching a permanent academic position. Also, the impact on improving career perspectives for experienced researchers has been significant. They came back to Europe or South America with new findings and ideas that led to a considerable number of scientific outputs, mainly publications. Finally, the project had a significant impact on attracting a large audience interested in Kantian philosophy. More in general, and more obviously, the societal impact can be measured in terms of a massive increase in interaction and durable collaboration between EU and SA institutions. Society can also benefit from the scientific results achieved by the project concerning democracy, science, inequality, human rights, and climate change.