•  176
    The main purpose of these introductory remarks is to give the reader a sense of Philip Rossi’s philosophical project and its importance. I will then advance an interpretation of what motivates Kant’s commitment to community, and, on its basis, object to Rossi’s views on radical evil –a point which affects how one should conceive the moral vocation of humanity and the role that politics and religion play within it. My reconstruction concludes with a sketch of how the five contributions to this Sy…Read more
  •  25
    Clipping our dogmatic wings: The role of religion’s Parerga in our moral education
    Educational Philosophy and Theory 51 (13): 1381-1391. 2019.
    In a note introduced into the second edition of Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason (1794), Kant assigns a systematic role to the General Remarks at the end of each Part of his book. He calls those Remarks, “as it were, parerga to religion within the boundaries of pure reason; they do not belong within it yet border on it” (RGV 6:52). As Kant sees them, the parerga are only a “secondary occupation” that consists in removing transcendent obstacles. This paper is skeptical of Kant's view…Read more
  •  104
    The Implications of Kant’s Empirical Psychology
    Con-Textos Kantianos 3 316-325. 2016.
    This paper reflects on the exchange that took place in a session organized by the North American Kant Society at the Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association in Washington, DC (January, 2016). The session, “New Perspectives in Kant’s Psychology,” marked a rare occurrence: the almost simultaneous publication in 2014 of two important new books on this topic, Corey Dyck’s Kant and Rational Psychology (Oxford University Press) and Patrick Frierson’s Kant’s Empirical Psychol…Read more
  •  51
    Immanuel Kant’s Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason (1793) is a formidably difficult book, which since its very inception was ripe for controversy. Part of the difficulty in understanding Kant’s text is thematic: in the idea of God and the questions surrounding faith in God’s existence, all interests of reason seem to converge –metaphysics, epistemology, morality, politics, the purposiveness of nature, and the destiny of the human species all unite in Kant’s view of religion and give i…Read more
  •  127
    Laura Papish’s new book comes in the wake of a series of studies of Kant’s conception of evil. Two features distinguish her approach: its emphasis on the connection between evil and self-deception (chapters 1–5), and its attentiveness to the role of self-cognition in moral reform (chapters 6–8). Lucidly written and conversant with recent debates in social and moral psychology, Papish’s book expands the range of topics that typically worry Kantians. Its most important contribution is perhaps to …Read more
  •  10
    Clipping our dogmatic wings: The role of religion’s Parerga in our moral education
    Educational Philosophy and Theory 51 (13): 1381-1391. 2019.
    In a note introduced into the second edition of Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason (1794), Kant assigns a systematic role to the General Remarks at the end of each Part of his book. He calls those Remarks, “as it were, parerga to religion within the boundaries of pure reason; they do not belong within it yet border on it” (RGV 6:52). As Kant sees them, the parerga are only a “secondary occupation” that consists in removing transcendent obstacles. This paper is skeptical of Kant's view…Read more
  •  2
    Rethinking Kant Vol.5 (edited book)
    with Oliver Thorndike
    Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 2018.
    The series Rethinking Kant, now in its fifth volume, has become a mirror of Kantian studies in North America. It gathers papers presented at the various study groups of the North American Kant Society, along with contributions from hosts, session chairs, and keynote speakers. Because of its broad and unique composition, it offers a sample of a whole generation of Kantian thought, ranging from recent Ph.Ds, to up and coming young scholars, to some well-established and influential players in the f…Read more
  •  1
    Rethinking Kant: Volume IV (edited book)
    with Oliver Thorndike
    Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 2015.
  •  277
    A Guide to Kant’s Treatment of Grace
    Con-Textos Kantianos 6 256-271. 2017.
    This Guide is designed to restore the theological background that informs Kant’s treatment of grace in Religion to its rightful place. This background is essential not only to understand the nature of Kant’s overall project in this book, namely, to determine the “association” or “union” between Christianity (as a historical faith) and rational religion, but also to dispel the impression of “internal contradictions” and conundrums” that contemporary interpreters associate with Kant’s treatment of…Read more
  •  172
    Scott R. Stroud: Kant and the Promise of Rhetoric
    Kant-Studien: Philosophische Zeitschrift der Kant-Gesellschaft 108 (4). 2014.
    Publications in the Kant-Studien have a dual focus: firstly contributions to the interpretation, history and editorial questions of Kant’s philosophy, and secondly systematic debates on transcendental philosophy. In addition, there are investigations on Kant’s precursors and on the effects of his philosophy. The journal also contains a documentation section, in which the current state of research is indicated by means of a continually updated bibliography with reviews and references.
  •  24
    Excerpt from the Doctrine of Reason by Georg Friedrich Meier (edited book)
    with Lawrence Pasternack
    Bloomsbury Academic. 2016.
    The aim of Kant’s Sources in Translation is to retrieve the rich intellectual world that influenced Kant’s philosophical development. In its first stage, the series makes available the most important textbooks Kant used throughout his long teaching career. Many of these textbooks are in Latin or in German and remain inaccessible to Anglophone readers. Lacking this material, however, it is difficult to appreciate Kant’s originality and process of philosophical maturation, for readers are unable t…Read more
  •  222
    Kant y la antinomia de la razón "política" moderna
    Revista Latinoamericana de Filosofia 34 (1): 39-61. 2008.
    ABSTRACT: Kant and Mendelssohn published almost simultaneously influential essays on the Enlightenment. I use this historical contingency as occasion to reflect on the presuppositions and implications their views have with respect to philosophy and politics. In the first part, I compare Mendelssohn's discursive strategy with that of traditional liberalism. A contradiction emerges from this contrast, which, in the second part, I interpret in Kantian terms as an antinomy of modern political reason…Read more
  • “Substance and the Emergence of the Cogito in Meditation II”
    Review Journal of Philosophy and Social Science. 2003.
  •  33
    Rethinking Kant (edited book)
    Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 2018.
    The series Rethinking Kant, now in its fourth volume, has become a mirror of Kantian studies in North America. It gathers papers presented at the various study groups of the North American Kant Society, along with contributions from hosts, session chairs, and keynote speakers. Because of its broad and unique composition, it offers a sample of a whole generation of Kantian thought, ranging from recent PhDs, to up and coming young scholars, to some well-established and influential players in the f…Read more
  •  12262
    An alternative proof of the universal propensity to evil
    In Sharon Anderson-Gold & Pablo Muchnik (eds.), Kant's Anatomy of Evil, Cambridge University Press. 2009.
    In this paper, I develop a quasi-transcendental argument to justify Kant’s infamous claim “man is evil by nature.” The cornerstone of my reconstruction lies in drawing a systematic distinction between the seemingly identical concepts of “evil disposition” (böseGesinnung) and “propensity to evil” (Hang zumBösen). The former, I argue, Kant reserves to describe the fundamental moral outlook of a single individual; the latter, the moral orientation of the whole species. Moreover, the appellative “e…Read more
  •  203
    Review: Michalson (ed.), Kant’s Religious Constructivism (edited book)
    Cambridge University Press. 2014.
    This paper suggests a general interpretative strategy for reading Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason namely, as an attempt to find a middle ground between what Kant considers two forms of excess: the appeal to a transcendent conception of God and the denial of any claim that presupposes God’s existence. To make my case, I use the example of two contemporary thinkers (Wolterstorff and Rorty) and trace their dispute to the antinomic character of “religious reason.” Putting things this w…Read more
  •  25
    The aim of Kant’s Sources in Translation is to retrieve the rich intellectual world that influenced Kant’s philosophical development. In its first stage, the series makes available the most important textbooks Kant used throughout his long teaching career. Many of these textbooks are in Latin or in German and remain inaccessible to Anglophone readers. Lacking this material, however, it is difficult to appreciate Kant’s originality and process of philosophical maturation, for readers are unable t…Read more
  •  16
    Book Reviews Pablo Muchnik, Kantian Review, FirstView Article
  •  1
    Review: Sasso, The Fragmented Will – Kant on Evil
    Review Journal of Philosophy and Social Science (unknown). 2004.
  •  12
    This paper provides a defense of the ethical/political dimensions of Kant’s liberalism by gauging the strength of the critique of one of its most acerbic contemporary critics, Richard Rorty. Rorty’s dissatisfaction with Kant’s position can be traced back to a narrative of the coming to age of our culture, which bears surprising similarities to Kant’s account of the Enlightenment. Yet, in Rorty’s version of the story, Kant’s philosophy is mistakenly assimilated to a form of “Platonism.” This is d…Read more
  •  26
    Since his pioneering Kant’s Impure Ethics (Oxford University Press, 2000), Robert Louden has helped us put a human face to the abstract a priori principles of Kant’s pure practical philosophy. Through a continuous spate of publications, some of which are gathered in his latest book Kant’s Human Being, Louden has managed to show the importance of the empirical dimension of Kantian ethics—a dimension which had been ignored or dismissed for more than two hundred years by scholars obsessed with “kee…Read more
  •  28
    An essay on the principles of Rousseau’s anthropology
    Philosophy and Social Criticism 26 (2): 51-77. 2000.
    Against the impression that Rousseau is an eclectic thinker, this paper is an attempt to reconstruct the systematic core of his anthropology. First, I discuss the methodological starting-point. Second, I develop the structural framework required to make the concept of nature operative as an ideal within social contexts. Finally, I interpret Rousseau's genetic account in terms of this framework. Such a procedure allows me to solve two interpretative problems, the aporia of the origin of wickednes…Read more
  •  216
    This paper analyzes the system of inferences Kant uses to determine whether an agent is evil.
  •  24
    Preparation for Natural Theology (edited book)
    Bloomsbury Academic. 2016.
    The aim of Kant’s Sources in Translation is to retrieve the rich intellectual world that influenced Kant’s philosophical development. In its first stage, the series makes available the most important textbooks Kant used throughout his long teaching career. Many of these textbooks are in Latin or in German and remain inaccessible to Anglophone readers. Lacking this material, however, it is difficult to appreciate Kant’s originality and process of philosophical maturation, for readers are unable t…Read more
  •  37
    Review: Denis (ed.), Kant's Metaphysics of Morals: A Critical Guide (review)
    Kantian Review 18 (1): 143-148. 2013.
    Book Reviews Pablo Muchnik, Kantian Review, FirstView Article
  •  167
    This paper explores a usually neglected notion in Kant’s account of moral fall and regeneration in Religion: the notion of “heart” (Herz). This notion belongs to a constellation of concepts that Kant develops for the purposes of moral imputation and the attribution of responsibility. The other chief components of Kant’s conceptual framework are “propensity” (Hang), “character” (Charakter), and “disposition” (Gesinnung). Although interpreters have tended to use these notions interchangeably, unde…Read more
  • Immanuel Kant
    In Dale Southerton (ed.), Encyclopedia of Consumer Culture, Sage Publications. pp. 827-828. 2011.
    This article offers a short biography of Kant and explains why his work was so important.
  •  1
    The Consistency of Kant's Doctrine of Radical Evil
    Dissertation, New School for Social Research. 2002.
    Against the charge that Kant's doctrine of radical evil is inconsistent and alien to his practical philosophy, my aim is to show its necessity within the critical system. First, I undermine the alleged vacuity of Kant's notion of evil by showing that, already in the Groundwork, an evil will is the necessary conceptual correlate of a good will. "Good" and "evil" characterize the agent's form of willing and represent the source of value of right and wrong actions. Then, I show how the doctrine of …Read more