University of Cambridge
Alumnus, 2005
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
  • Kant on the moral cultivation of feelings
    In Alix Cohen & Robert Stern (eds.), Thinking about the Emotions : A Philosophical History, Oxford University Press. 2017.
  •  221
    On my interpretation of Kant, feeling plays a central role in the mind: it has the distinct function of tracking and evaluating our activity in relation to ourselves and the world so as to orient us. In this article, I set out to defend this view against a number of objections raised by Melissa Merritt and Uri Eran. I conclude with some reflections on the fact that, despite being very different, Merritt and Eran’s respective views of Kantian feelings turn out to have something potentially proble…Read more
  •  146
    Kant on Evolution: A Re-evaluation
    In John J. Callanan & Lucy Allais (eds.), Kant and Animals, Oxford University Press. pp. 123-135. 2020.
    Kant’s notorious remark about the impossibility of there ever being a Newton of a blade of grass has often been interpreted as a misguided pre-emptive strike against Darwin and evolutionary theories in general: 'It would be absurd for humans even to make such an attempt or to hope that there may yet arise a Newton who could make comprehensible even the generation of a blade of grass according to natural laws that no intention has ordered; rather, we must absolutely deny this insight to human bei…Read more
  •  39
    This chapter explores what Kant means by “life”, the “feeling of life”, the “feeling of the promotion of life”, and related notions, such as the idea of a “vital power”, through the contrast between Kant’s account of the beautiful and his account of the sublime. We argue that it is significant that Kant characterizes the feeling of the beautiful as a feeling of the promotion of life but the feeling of the sublime in terms of vital powers. We account for this difference by showing that in experie…Read more
  •  11
    Editorial
    British Journal for the History of Philosophy 30 (1): 1-2. 2022.
    We would like to start by thanking all those who have contributed to the smooth running of the Journal over the last year in what remain challenging circumstances due to Covid-19: all our Associate...
  •  181
    Kant on Epistemic Autonomy
    In Camilla Serck-Hanssen & Beatrix Himmelmann (eds.), The Court of Reason: Proceedings of the 13th International Kant Congress, De Gruyter. pp. 687-696. 2021.
    The aim of this paper is to defend the claim that epistemic autonomy plays a central role in Kant’s account of epistemic normativity. Just as the formula of autonomy ought to regulate the activity of the will, I argue that our epistemic activity, and in particular our beliefs (‘holding to be true’, Fürwahrhalten) ought to be regulated by an epistemic version of this formula. To support this claim, I show that while believing and willing are different kinds of activities, they are subject to the …Read more
  •  29
    Editorial
    British Journal for the History of Philosophy 29 (1): 1-3. 2021.
    In taking over as Co-Editors of the British Journal for the History of Philosophy, we are conscious that we have an incredibly hard act to follow. When Mike Beaney officially became Editor in April...
  •  585
    A Kantian Account of Emotions as Feelings1
    Mind 129 (514): 429-460. 2020.
    The aim of this paper is to extract from Kant's writings an account of the nature of the emotions and their function – and to do so despite the fact that Kant neither uses the term ‘emotion’ nor offers a systematic treatment of it. Kant's position, as I interpret it, challenges the contemporary trends that define emotions in terms of other mental states and defines them instead first and foremost as ‘feelings’. Although Kant's views on the nature of feelings have drawn surprisingly little attent…Read more
  •  621
    As one would expect, Kant believes that there is a tension, and even a conflict, between our bodily humanity and its ethical counterpart: ‘Inclination to pleasurable living and inclination to virtue are in conflict with each other’ (Anthropology, 185-86 [7:277]). What is more unexpected, however, is that he further claims that this tension can be resolved in what he calls an example of ‘civilised bliss’, namely dinner parties. Dinner parties are, for Kant, part of the ‘highest ethicophysical goo…Read more
  •  1
    The aim of this paper is to argue that Kant’s philosophy of education should be interpreted as showing that education can be morally relevant despite the fact that it cannot make the child moral. To support this claim, I suggest that it is necessary to focus on the connection between Kant’s account on education and his views on moral anthropology. For it brings to light that education cannot but work with nature (and in particular human nature, natural feelings and predispositions) rather than a…Read more
  •  113
    As has been noted in the recent literature on Kant’s ethics, Kant holds that although natural drives such as feelings, emotions and inclinations cannot lead directly to moral worth, they nevertheless play some kind of role vis-à-vis morality. The issue is thus to understand this role within the limits set by Kant’s account of freedom, and it is usually tackled by examining the relationship between moral and non-moral motivation in the Groundwork, the Critique of Practical Reason, and more recen…Read more
  •  115
    Kant on Epigenesis, Monogenesis and Human Nature: The Biological Premises of Anthropology
    Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 37 (4): 675-93. 2006.
    The aim of this paper is to show that for Kant, a combination of epigenesis and monogenesis is the condition of possibility of anthropology as he conceives of it and that moreover, this has crucial implications for the biological dimension of his account of human nature. More precisely, I begin by arguing that Kant’s conception of mankind as a natural species is based on two premises: firstly the biological unity of the human species (monogenesis of the human races); and secondly the existence o…Read more
  •  126
    The aim of this paper is to bring to light the anthropological dimension of Kant’s account of cognition as it is developed in the Lectures on Anthropology. I will argue that Kant’s anthropology of cognition develops along two complementary lines. On the one hand, it studies Nature’s intentions for the human species – the “natural” dimension of human cognition. On the other hand, it uses this knowledge to help us realise of our cognitive purposes – the “pragmatic” dimension of human cognition. In…Read more
  •  162
    Rational feelings
    In Diane Williamson & Kelly Sorensen (eds.), Kant and the Faculty of Feeling, Cambridge University Press. pp. 9-24. 2017.
    While it is well known that Kant’s transcendental idealism forbids the transcendent use of reason and its ideas, what had been underexplored until the last decade or so is his account of the positive use of reason’s ideas as it is expounded in the “Appendix” of the Critique of Pure Reason. The main difficulty faced by his account is that while there is no doubt that for Kant we need to rely on the ideas of reason in order to gain knowledge of the empirical world, the justificatory grounds for o…Read more
  •  178
    Kant often seems to suggest that a cognition – whether an everyday cognition or a scientific cognition – cannot be beautiful. In the Critique of Judgment and the Lectures on Logic, he writes: ‘a science which, as such, is supposed to be beautiful, is absurd.’ (CJ 184 (5:305)) ‘The expression "beautiful cognition" is not fitting at all’ (LL 446 (24:708)). These claims are usually understood rather straightforwardly. On the one hand, cognition cannot be beautiful since on Kant’s account, it is al…Read more
  •  377
    Kant on Moral Feelings, Moral Desires and the Cultivation of Virtue
    In Sally Sedgwick & Dina Emundts (eds.), Begehren / Desire, De Gruyter. pp. 3-18. 2018.
    This paper argues that contrary to what is often thought, virtue for Kant is not just a matter of strength of will; it has an essential affective dimension. To support this claim, I show that certain affective dispositions, namely moral feelings and desires, are virtuous in the sense that they are constitutive of virtue at the affective level. There is thus an intrinsic connection between an agent’s practice of virtue and the cultivation of her affective dispositions.
  •  307
    Kant on science and normativity
    Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 1 6-12. 2018.
    The aim of this paper is to explore Kant’s account of normativity through the prism of the distinction between the natural and the human sciences. Although the pragmatic orientation of the human sciences is often defined in contrast with the theoretical orientation of the natural sciences, I show that they are in fact regulated by one and the same norm, namely reason’s demand for autonomy.
  •  70
    This paper aims to show that the notion of moral progress makes sense in Hume’s philosophy. And even though Hume suggests that this question is not central, in showing why it is not the case, I will conclude that, in concentrating on the question of the progress of civilisation, Hume was expressing a view on moral progress. To support this claim, I will begin by defending the claim that the notion of moral progress itself is consistent within Hume’s philosophical principles. In brief, I will sug…Read more
  •  301
    Kant's Antinomy of Reflective Judgment: A Re-evaluation
    Teorema: International Journal of Philosophy 23 (1): 183. 2004.
    The aim of this paper is to show that there is a genuine difficulty in Kant’s argument regarding the connection between mechanism and teleology. But this difficulty is not the one that is usually underlined. Far from consisting in a contradiction between the first and the third Critique, I argue that the genuine difficulty is intrinsic to the antinomy of reflective judgement: rather than having any hope of resolving anything, it consists in an inescapable conflict. In order to support this claim…Read more
  •  106
    Kant’s Concept of Freedom and the Human Sciences
    Canadian Journal of Philosophy 39 (1). 2009.
    The aim of this paper is to determine whether Kant’s account of freedom fits with his theory of the human sciences. Several Kant scholars have recently acknowledged a tension between Kant’s metaphysics and his works on anthropology in particular. I believe that in order to clarify the issue at stake, the tension between Kant’s metaphysics and his anthropology should be broken down into three distinct problems. First, Kant’s Anthropology studies the human being ‘as a freely acting being.’5 This a…Read more
  •  73
    Kant on Emotion and Value (edited book)
    Palgrave-Macmillan. 2014.
    By combining new cutting-edge essays and reprints by leading Kant scholars and Kantian philosophers, this volume offer the first comprehensive assessment of Kant's account of the emotions and their connection to value, whether in his philosophy of mind, ethics, aesthetics, religion and politics. Through a mixture of interpretation and critical discussion, the essays in this volume illuminate the various aspects of Kant's distinctive approach to the emotions and demonstrate its continuing relevan…Read more
  •  391
    In defence of Hume's historical method
    British Journal for the History of Philosophy 13 (3). 2005.
    A tradition among certain Hume scholars, best known as the ‘New Humeans’, proposes a novel reading of Hume’s work, and in particular of his conception of causality.2 The purpose of this paper is to conduct a similar move regarding Hume’s historical method. It is similar for two reasons: firstly, it is intended to reintegrate Hume’s theory into present-day debates on the nature of history; and secondly, the reading I propose is directed against the standard interpretation of Hume’s history. This …Read more
  • Le mal, funeste hasard ou tragique nécessité?
    Etudes Jean-Jacques Rousseau 11. 1999.
  •  54
    Kant's Lectures on Anthropology: A Critical Guide (edited book)
    Cambridge University Press. 2014.
    Kant's lectures on anthropology, which formed the basis of his Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View, contain many observations on human nature, culture and psychology and illuminate his distinctive approach to the human sciences. The essays in the present volume, written by an international team of leading Kant scholars, offer the first comprehensive scholarly assessment of these lectures, their philosophical importance, their evolution and their relation to Kant's critical philosophy. Th…Read more
  •  325
    The Role of Feelings in Kant's Account of Moral Education
    Journal of Philosophy of Education 50 (4): 511-523. 2016.
    In line with familiar portrayals of Kant's ethics, interpreters of his philosophy of education focus essentially on its intellectual dimension: the notions of moral catechism, ethical gymnastics and ethical ascetics, to name but a few. By doing so, they usually emphasise Kant's negative stance towards the role of feelings in moral education. Yet there seem to be noteworthy exceptions: Kant writes that the inclinations to be honoured and loved are to be preserved as far as possible. This statemen…Read more
  •  437
    Kant on the Possibility of Ugliness
    British Journal of Aesthetics 53 (2): 199-209. 2013.
    In the recent literature on the issue, a number of commentators have argued that Kant’s aesthetic theory commits him to the position that nothing is ugly. For instance, in ‘Why Kant finds nothing ugly’, Shier argues that ‘within Kant’s aesthetics, there cannot be any negative judgments of taste’ (Shier (1998): 413). And in ‘Kant’s problems with ugliness’, Thomson claims that ‘Kant’s aesthetic theory precludes […] ugliness’ (Thomson (1992): 107). In other words, as it is presented in some of the …Read more