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219Beauty in Proofs: Kant on Aesthetics in MathematicsEuropean Journal of Philosophy 23 (4): 955-977. 2013.It is a common thought that mathematics can be not only true but also beautiful, and many of the greatest mathematicians have attached central importance to the aesthetic merit of their theorems, proofs and theories. But how, exactly, should we conceive of the character of beauty in mathematics? In this paper I suggest that Kant's philosophy provides the resources for a compelling answer to this question. Focusing on §62 of the ‘Critique of Aesthetic Judgment’, I argue against the common view th…Read more
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182Two views on nature: A solution to Kant's antinomy of mechanism and teleologyBritish Journal for the History of Philosophy 16 (2). 2008.This Article does not have an abstract
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164V—Aesthetics in Science: A Kantian ProposalProceedings of the Aristotelian Society 113 (1pt1): 83-100. 2013.Can aesthetic judgements legitimately be linked to the success of scientific theories? I suggest that a satisfactory answer to this question should account for the persistent attraction that aesthetic considerations seem to have for scientists, while also explaining the apparent instability of the link between the beauty of a theory and its truth. I argue that two widespread tendencies in the literature, Pythagorean and subjectivist approaches, have difficulties meeting this twofold challenge. I…Read more
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119Mechanical explanation of nature and its limits in Kant's Critique of judgmentStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 37 (4): 694-711. 2006.In this paper I discuss two questions. What does Kant understand by mechanical explanation in the Critique of judgment? And why does he think that mechanical explanation is the only type of the explanation of nature available to us? According to the interpretation proposed, mechanical explanations in the Critique of judgment refer to a particular species of empirical causal laws. Mechanical laws aim to explain nature by reference to the causal interaction between the forces of the parts of matte…Read more
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98Langton on things in themselves: a critique of Kantian humilityStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 35 (1): 137-148. 2004.
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85Normativity and PurposivenessBritish Journal of Aesthetics 56 (4): 405-408. 2016.First, I raise two objections against Ginsborg’s interpretation of natural teleology. I argue that Ginsborg’s notion of primitive normativity is too thin to account for Kant’s more substantive conception of the organism. Furthermore, I question whether Kant has room for a notion of purposiveness that is entirely divorced from intentional activity. Second, I ask about the implications of Ginsborg’s account of the relationship between aesthetic judgement and cognition. I suggest that her reading c…Read more
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85The Beauty of Science without the Science of Beauty: Kant and the Rationalists on the Aesthetics of CognitionJournal of the History of Philosophy 56 (2): 281-304. 2018.it is common to praise the beauty of theories, the elegance of proofs, and the pleasing simplicity of explanations. We may admire, for example, the beauty of Einstein’s theory of general relativity, the simplicity of Darwin’s idea of natural selection, and the elegance of a geometrical proof of Pythagoras’s theorem. Aesthetic judgments such as these have much currency among scientists, and they are employed in the search for knowledge more broadly. But while the use of aesthetic judgments in sci…Read more
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78Umweltethik nach Kant. Ein analogisches Verständnis vom Wert der NaturDeutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 57 (3): 377-395. 2009.Kant is often characterised as the chief exponent of an anthropocentric ethics that can ascribe to nature only a purely instrumental value. By contrast, this paper argues that Kant′s teleological conception of nature provides the basis for a promising account of environmental ethics. According to this account we can attribute to nature a value that is independent of its usefulness to human beings without making this value independent from the judgment of the rational valuer
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77Kant on Biology and the Experience of LifeIn Stefano Bacin, Alfredo Ferrarin, Claudio La Rocca & Margit Ruffing (eds.), Kant und die Philosophie in weltbürgerlicher Absicht. Akten des XI. Internationalen Kant-Kongresses, De Gruyter. pp. 19-30. 2013.
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68One Imagination in Experiences of Beauty and Achievements of UnderstandingBritish Journal of Aesthetics 60 (1): 71-88. 2020.I argue for the unity of imagination in two prima facie diverse contexts: experiences of beauty and achievements of understanding. I develop my argument in three steps. First, I begin by describing a type of aesthetic experience that is grounded in a set of imaginative activities on the part of the person having the experience. Second, I argue that the same set of imaginative activities that grounds this type of aesthetic experience also contributes to achievements of understanding. Third, I sho…Read more
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62Biological Purposiveness and Analogical ReflectionIn Eric Watkins & Ina Goy (eds.), Kant's Theory of Biology, De Gruyter. pp. 131-148. 2014.
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59Imaginative Reflection in Aesthetic Judgment and CognitionIn Camilla Serck-Hanssen & Beatrix Himmelmann (eds.), The Court of Reason: Proceedings of the 13th International Kant Congress, De Gruyter. pp. 1009-1016. 2021.
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57Kant goes fishing: Kant and the right to property in environmental resourcesStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 36 (3): 488-512. 2005.We can observe a connection between some serious environmental problems caused by the overexploitation of environmental resources and the particular conceptions of property rights that are claimed to hold with regard to these resources. In this paper, I investigate whether Kant’s conception of property rights might constitute a basis for justifying property regimes that would overcome some of these environmental problems. Kant’s argument for the right to property, put forward in his Doctrine of …Read more
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51Introduction to Special Issue: Aesthetics in Mathematics†Philosophia Mathematica 26 (2): 153-160. 2018.
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41Regulative Principles and Kinds of the UnconditionedKantian Review 26 (2): 287-297. 2021.In his Kant on Laws, Eric Watkins presents an account of reason on which the principles of specification and continuity are regulative instructions to search for different kinds of the unconditioned. I suggest that we correct Watkins’ account in two ways. First, we need to complete Watkins’ claim to the plurality of the unconditioned: reason aims for three kinds of the unconditioned, associated with the lowest, next and highest concepts. Second, we need to look beyond reason’s search for the unc…Read more
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34Mechanical explanation of nature and its limits in Kant’s Critique of judgmentStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 37 (4): 694-711. 2006.
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33Kant and the Laws of Nature (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 2017.Laws of nature play a central role in Kant's theoretical philosophy and are crucial to understanding his philosophy of science in particular. In this volume of new essays, the first systematic investigation of its kind, a distinguished team of scholars explores Kant's views on the laws of nature in the physical and life sciences. Their essays focus particularly on the laws of physics and biology, and consider topics including the separation in Kant's treatment of the physical and life sciences, …Read more
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20SchlussIn Die Analogie von Vernunft Und Naturthe Analogy of Reason and Natur: Eine Umweltphilosophie Nach Kant, Walter De Gruyter. 2009.
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15Understanding Kantian UnderstandingIn Violetta L. Waibel, Margit Ruffing & David Wagner (eds.), Natur und Freiheit. Akten des XII. Internationalen Kant-Kongresses, De Gruyter. pp. 1175-1182. 2018.
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10EinleitungIn Die Analogie von Vernunft Und Naturthe Analogy of Reason and Natur: Eine Umweltphilosophie Nach Kant, Walter De Gruyter. 2009.
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10Die Analogie von Vernunft Und Naturthe Analogy of Reason and Natur: Eine Umweltphilosophie Nach KantWalter de Gruyter. 2009.Main description: Angesichts der zunehmenden Zerstörung der Natur durch den Menschen und der technischen Fortschritte in den Biowissenschaften ist die Frage nach dem Verhältnis des Menschen zu seiner natürlichen Umwelt von höchster Aktualität. Ausgehend von der Philosophie Kants, nach der die Betrachtung der Natur wesentlich in einer Analogie mit der Vernunft des Menschen gründet, entwickelt Angela Breitenbach einen Ansatz zu einer modernen Umweltphilosophie, die einen wichtigen Beitrag zu aktue…Read more
Areas of Specialization
Immanuel Kant |
17th/18th Century Philosophy |
General Philosophy of Science |
Aesthetics |
Areas of Interest
17th/18th Century Philosophy |
General Philosophy of Science |
Aesthetics |
Immanuel Kant |
PhilPapers Editorships
Kant: Science, Logic, and Mathematics |
Kant: Philosophy of Science |