University of Notre Dame
Department of Philosophy
PhD, 1994
San Diego, California, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
17th/18th Century Philosophy
Areas of Interest
17th/18th Century Philosophy
PhilPapers Editorships
Kant: Causation
  •  118
    This paper argues that, despite appearances to the contrary, Kant and contemporary analytic metaphysicians are interested in the same kind of metaphysical dependence relation that finds application in a range of contexts and that is today commonly referred to as grounding. It also argues that comparing and contrasting Kant’s and contemporary metaphysicians’ accounts of this relation proves useful for both Kant scholarship and for contemporary metaphysics. The analyses provided by contemporary me…Read more
  •  31
    Kant on Laws
    Cambridge University Press. 2019.
    This book focuses on the unity, diversity, and centrality of the notion of law as it is employed in Kant's theoretical and practical philosophy. Eric Watkins argues that, by thinking through a number of issues in various historical, scientific, and philosophical contexts over several decades, Kant is able to develop a univocal concept of law that can nonetheless be applied to a wide range of particular cases, despite the diverse demands that these contexts give rise to. In addition, Watkins show…Read more
  •  1
    Kant on Persons and Agency (edited book)
    Cambridge University Press. 2017.
    Today we consider ourselves to be free and equal persons, capable of acting rationally and autonomously in both practical and theoretical contexts. The essays in this volume show how this conception was first articulated in a fully systematic fashion by Immanuel Kant in the eighteenth century. Twelve leading scholars shed new light on Kant's philosophy, with each devoting particular attention to at least one of three aspects of this conception: autonomy, freedom, and personhood. Some focus on cl…Read more
  •  1
    This anthology offers the key works of Locke, Berkeley, and Hume in their entirety or in substantial selections, along with a rich selection of associated texts by other leading thinkers of the period.
  •  2
    Kant and the Metaphysics of Causality
    Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 68 (3): 624-626. 2005.
  •  6
    Kants Übergangskonzeption im ‘Opus Postumum’, by Dina Emundts (review)
    European Journal of Philosophy 16 (2): 332-336. 2008.
    No Abstract
  •  4
    Entstehung und Aufstieg des Neukantianismus (review)
    The Owl of Minerva 24 (2): 215-226. 1993.
    It would certainly be an exaggeration to say that there has been a plethora of work on Neo-Kantianism in recent years. There has, however, been a modest increase, due not only to Köhnke's work but also to Hans-Ludwig Ollig's Der Neukantianismus and Materialien zur Neukantianismus-Diskussion, Thomas Willey's Back To Kant, and Werner Flach's and Helmut Holzey's Erkenntnistheorie und Logik in Neukantianismus. On several counts there is reason to suspect, or at least to hope, that this tendency will…Read more
  •  13
    Givenness and Cognition: Reply to Grüne and Chignell
    Journal of the History of Philosophy 55 (1): 143-152. 2017.
    stefanie grüne takes issue with our claim that for an object to be given, this object must exist. On her view, givenness, according to Kant, does not require the existence of the object, but only its real possibility. She develops her critique in three steps. First, she argues that the reason why Kant requires objects to be given in intuition is that otherwise our concepts would not have ‘objective reality’ and would thus not constitute cognitions. But since the objective reality of a concept co…Read more
  •  3
    Entstehung und Aufstieg des Neukantianismus (review)
    The Owl of Minerva 24 (2): 215-226. 1993.
    It would certainly be an exaggeration to say that there has been a plethora of work on Neo-Kantianism in recent years. There has, however, been a modest increase, due not only to Köhnke's work but also to Hans-Ludwig Ollig's Der Neukantianismus and Materialien zur Neukantianismus-Diskussion, Thomas Willey's Back To Kant, and Werner Flach's and Helmut Holzey's Erkenntnistheorie und Logik in Neukantianismus. On several counts there is reason to suspect, or at least to hope, that this tendency will…Read more
  •  26
    Modern Philosophy: An Anthology of Primary Sources (edited book)
    Hackett Pub. Co.. 2009.
    The leading anthology of its kind, this volume provides the key works of seven major philosophers, along with a rich selection of associated texts by other ...
  • Kant
    In Helen Beebee, Christopher Hitchcock & Peter Menzies (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Causation, Oxford University Press Uk. 2009.
  •  21
    This anthology offers the key works of Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz in their entirety or in substantial selections, along with a rich selection of associated texts by other leading thinkers of the period.
  •  15
    Kant's Philosophy of Science
    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2023.
  •  12
    Kant and the Sciences (edited book)
    Oxford University Press. 2001.
    Kant and the Sciences aims to reveal the deep unity of Kant's conception of science as it bears on the particular sciences of his day and on his conception of ...
  •  8
    Name der Zeitschrift: Kant Yearbook Jahrgang: 8 Heft: 1 Seiten: 117-142.
  •  5
    Is a Transcendental Deduction Necessary for the Metaphysical Foundations?
    Proceedings of the Eighth International Kant Congress 2 381-387. 1995.
  •  4
    Review: Ameriks, Karl, Autonomy and Idealism in and after Kant (review)
    Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 69 (3). 2004.
    Regardless of one’s particular philosophical interests and convictions, it is evident that the notion of autonomy is an important one. However, agreement about the nature of autonomy and about what it requires has proven elusive in contemporary discussions. In Kant and the Fate of Autonomy Karl Ameriks addresses this impasse by going back to the historical roots of this notion in Kant and arguing that many contemporary conceptions of autonomy are based on misunderstandings of Kant’s position, mi…Read more
  •  15
    Kant's Theory of Biology (edited book)
    with Ina Goy
    De Gruyter. 2014.
    During the last twenty years, Kant's theory of biology has increasingly attracted the attention of scholars and developed into a field which is growing rapidly in importance within Kant studies. The volume presents fifteen interpretative essays written by experts working in the field, covering topics from seventeenth- and eighteenth-century biological theories, the development of the philosophy of biology in Kant's writings, the theory of organisms in Kant's Critique of the Power of Judgment, an…Read more
  •  11
    Kant on materialism
    British Journal for the History of Philosophy 24 (5): 1035-1052. 2016.
    ABSTRACTIn this paper I argue that Kant’s complex argument against materialism involves not only his generic commitment to the existence of non-spatio-temporal and thus non-material things in themselves, but also considerations pertaining to reason and the subject of our thoughts. Specifically, I argue that because Kant conceives of reason in such a way that it demands a commitment to the existence of the unconditioned so that we can account for whatever conditioned objects we encounter in exper…Read more
  •  13
    Kant and the Metaphysics of Causality
    Cambridge University Press. 2004.
    This is a book about Kant's views on causality as understood in their proper historical context. Specifically, Eric Watkins argues that a grasp of Leibnizian and anti-Leibnizian thought in eighteenth-century Germany helps one to see how the critical Kant argued for causal principles that have both metaphysical and epistemological elements. On this reading Kant's model of causality does not consist of events, but rather of substances endowed with causal powers that are exercised according to thei…Read more
  •  2
    Kant: A Biography (review) (review)
    Journal of the History of Philosophy 40 (1): 127-128. 2002.
    In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Journal of the History of Philosophy 40.1 (2002) 127-128 [Access article in PDF] Book Review Kant: A Biography Manfred Kuehn. Kant: A Biography. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Pp. xxii + 544. Cloth, $34.95. Kuehn's biography of Kant is an extraordinary scholarly and literary accomplishment. In nine masterful chapters (along with a prologue), Kuehn draws on an incredibly comprehensive and varied repository of historical e…Read more