Individuality and Interconnectedness: Essays on the Enlightenment Idea of Harmony
FAIN: FEL-273562-21
Katharina Teresa Kraus
University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN 46556-4635)
Research and writing leading to publication of three articles on the idea of systemic order in Enlightenment philosophy.
My project aims to reconceive the relation between individuality and interconnectedness in modern societies by examining Enlightenment conceptions of harmony. Many Enlightenment philosophers draw on some notion of harmony (or systematic order), that is, the idea that there is some overall coherence within a whole composed of diverse elements. Specifically, I plan to compare Leibniz’s and Kant’s accounts of harmony in their historical context and in their distinctive differences, paying attention to their employment of scientific models of harmonic motions. I shall argue that Kant turns Leibniz’s metaphysical assumption of a divinely created world-order into a normative principle that guides human life. Moreover, I intend to study critiques that this Enlightenment idea has received from contemporary empiricists and from post-Kantian thinkers who emphasize the irrational and disorderly aspects of human life. Finally, I aim to develop a novel defense of this idea.
Associated Products
Kant on the Rational Ideal of Harmony: The Demand for Self-Integration, Moral Agency, and Happiness (Article)
Title: Kant on the Rational Ideal of Harmony: The Demand for Self-Integration, Moral Agency, and Happiness
Author: Katharina Kraus
Abstract: This paper examines the role that the demand for self-integration, or for an inner systematic order and harmony, plays for Kant’s conceptions of personhood, moral agency, and happiness. In contrast to a self-constitution view, such as that of Korsgaard (2009), it argues for a self-formation view, according to which the demand for self-integration is a regulative rather than constitutive principle for the psychological constitution of a person and a necessary but not sufficient condition for the development of moral character. In the first part, the demand for self-integration is identified with the regulative principles of the non-moral idea of the soul, which have a normative function for the self-understanding and self-formation of persons. The second part focuses on its role in moral action and discusses whether the demand for self-integration is a necessary pre-condition for morality, and in particular for the formation of moral character. It answers this question by exploring three ways in which humans may fail to meet this demand. The third part examines whether compliance with this demand can contribute to personal happiness and considers possible external constraints to which the demand might be subject, given the state of the world (nature) as well as the will and psychological constitution of other people.
Year: 2023
Publisher: In preparation for publication with journal
From Locke’s Problem of Error to Kant’s Normative Idea of Personal Identity (Article)
Title: From Locke’s Problem of Error to Kant’s Normative Idea of Personal Identity
Author: Katharina Kraus
Abstract: This paper explores an important shift in the conception of personhood from Locke to Kant. Locke famously accounts for personal identity by appealing to the capacity to be conscious of oneself at different times, rather than to an underlying ontological substance. Although Locke’s theory has remained influential to this day, it fails to solve the problem of error in appropriating thoughts and actions in the same consciousness. This failure reveals a dilemma between subjectivism and foundationalism in which Locke and the Lockeans are caught. Kant, while crucially influenced by Locke’s consciousness-based view, radically transforms Locke’s approach: by developing a normative conception of personhood, Kant is able to offer an effective answer to the problem of error. Specifically, Kant conceives of personal identity neither as the product of a subjective faculty nor as an objectively given reality, but rather as a normative demand for a person’s self-activity, which centrally involves psychological integration through time.
Year: 2022
Publisher: Currently under revision
Kant's Ideas of Reason (Book)
Title: Kant's Ideas of Reason
Abstract: To appear in the Cambridge series 'Elements in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant'
"Kant’s Ideas of Reason" develops a novel, contextualist interpretation of Kant’s theory of reason in its theoretical use. Drawing on contemporary analytic theories of context-dependency, it is argued that theoretical cognition for Kant is sufficiently semantically determined and epistemically justifiable only in adequate contexts, and that ideas of reason are needed to map and demarcate these contexts. The regulative use of ideas is understood to produce not descriptions of an existing or merely imagined metaphysical reality, but contexts in two ways: (i) contexts of intelligibility, within which a human subject can first conceive of an experience as sufficiently semantically determined cognition of an object (of a certain kind), and (ii) projected ultimate contexts of evaluation, within which the truth of the cognition can be assessed in the light of the world as it is in itself, and from which normative standards for epistemic justifications can be derived.
Year: 2023
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Type: Single author monograph
Kant’s Concept of a Person: Inner Systematicity and the Possibility of Immorality (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Kant’s Concept of a Person: Inner Systematicity and the Possibility of Immorality
Author: Katharina Kraus
Abstract: In this talk, I examine Kant's conception of personhood and situate the ideal of self-integration in Kant. I then discuss three ways in which one can fail to be a morally good person or to form a moral character. This discussion serves to examine the relationship between the demand for self-integration (or inner systematics) and the conditions of morality, especially the demand for the universalizability of one's principles of action, as well as the possibility of immorality.
Date: 06/20/2022
Conference Name: "The Wickedness of Freedom. Immorality and Reason after Kant", Center for Post-Kantian Philosophy, Universität Potsdam (Germany)
Kant’s Ideas of Reason. A Hegelian Reading? (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Kant’s Ideas of Reason. A Hegelian Reading?
Author: Katharina Kraus
Abstract: In this talk, I develop a new reading of Kant’s ideas of reason and their role in concept formation and knowledge acquisition. On this view, the regulative use of the ideas of reason has two functions: a semantic function in delimiting contexts of intelligibility and an epistemic function in projecting an ultimate context of evaluation. I conclude by discussing whether this reading can or should be classified as Hegelian.
Date: 06/17/2022
Conference Name: “Theoretical Philosophy of Kant and Hegel”, Society for German Idealism and Romanticism, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Germany)
Kant on the Rational Ideal of Harmony: The Quest for Self-Integration and Moral Agency (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Kant on the Rational Ideal of Harmony: The Quest for Self-Integration and Moral Agency
Author: Katharina Kraus
Abstract: Workshop Discussion of the Paper:
This paper examines the role that the demand for self-integration, or for an inner systematic order and harmony, plays for Kant’s conceptions of personhood, moral agency, and happiness. In contrast to a self-constitution view, such as that of Korsgaard (2009), it argues for a self-formation view, according to which the demand for self-integration is a regulative rather than constitutive principle for the psychological constitution of a person and a necessary but not sufficient condition for the development of moral character. In the first part, the demand for self-integration is identified with the regulative principles of the non-moral idea of the soul, which have a normative function for the self-understanding and self-formation of persons. The second part focuses on its role in moral action and discusses whether the demand for self-integration is a necessary pre-condition for morality, and in particular for the formation of moral character. It answers this question by exploring three ways in which humans may fail to meet this demand. The third part examines whether compliance with this demand can contribute to personal happiness and considers possible external constraints to which the demand might be subject, given the state of the world (nature) as well as the will and psychological constitution of other people.
Date: 11/04/2022
Conference Name: New York German Idealism Workshop, New York (USA)
Kant on the Rational Ideal of Harmony: The Quest for Self-Integration, Moral Agency, and Happiness (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Kant on the Rational Ideal of Harmony: The Quest for Self-Integration, Moral Agency, and Happiness
Author: Katharina Kraus
Abstract: Workshop Discussion of the Paper:
This paper examines the role that the demand for self-integration, or for an inner systematic order and harmony, plays for Kant’s conceptions of personhood, moral agency, and happiness. In contrast to a self-constitution view, such as that of Korsgaard (2009), it argues for a self-formation view, according to which the demand for self-integration is a regulative rather than constitutive principle for the psychological constitution of a person and a necessary but not sufficient condition for the development of moral character. In the first part, the demand for self-integration is identified with the regulative principles of the non-moral idea of the soul, which have a normative function for the self-understanding and self-formation of persons. The second part focuses on its role in moral action and discusses whether the demand for self-integration is a necessary pre-condition for morality, and in particular for the formation of moral character. It answers this question by exploring three ways in which humans may fail to meet this demand. The third part examines whether compliance with this demand can contribute to personal happiness and considers possible external constraints to which the demand might be subject, given the state of the world (nature) as well as the will and psychological constitution of other people.
Date: 12/15/2022
Conference Name: Research Seminar Klassische Deutsche Philosophie, Department of Philosophy, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen (Germany)
Geistiges Leben bei Lou Andreas-Salomé and Edith Stein (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Geistiges Leben bei Lou Andreas-Salomé and Edith Stein
Author: Katharina Kraus
Abstract: This talk examines theories of self-development in Salomé and Stein.
Date: 12/13/2022
Conference Name: Research Seminar, Philosophisches Seminar, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (Germany)
Self-Formation in Salomé and Stein (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Self-Formation in Salomé and Stein
Author: Katharina Kraus
Abstract: This talk examines the theories of self-formation in Salomé and Stein.
Date: 04/06/2023
Conference Name: American Philosophical Association Pacific Division Meeting, San Francisco (USA)
Die Rolle der Ideen in Kants Wissenschaftstheorie: Eine kontextualistische Lesart (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Die Rolle der Ideen in Kants Wissenschaftstheorie: Eine kontextualistische Lesart
Author: Katharina Kraus
Abstract: In this talk, a new, contextualist interpretation of Kant's ideas of reason is presented and used to interpret Kant's philosophy of science. Drawing on contemporary analytic theories of contextuality, the first part argues that for Kant theoretical knowledge is sufficiently semantically determined and epistemically justifiable only in adequate contexts, and that ideas of reason are needed to demarcate and mentally map these contexts. Accordingly, the regulative use of ideas is not to produce descriptions of an existing or merely imagined metaphysical reality, but to exhibit two kinds of contexts: (i) contexts of intelligibility, within which a human subject can first of all conceive of her experience as a sufficiently semantically determined cognition of an object (of a certain kind), and (ii) contexts of evaluation, within which the truth of cognition could be ultimately judged in view of the world as it is in itself, and from whose projections normative standards for epistemic justifications can be derived.
In the second part, this contextualist reading is applied to Kant's philosophy of science to explain Kant's claim that every single science is based on an idea of reason. For example, physics is founded on the idea of absolute space and psychology on the idea of the soul. In its semantic function, the idea of a science thus defines its largest possible context of intelligibility and thus its local ontology. In its epistemic function, this idea represents the ultimate context of evaluation, from the projection of which the standards of knowledge characteristic of the individual science can be obtained and the historical change of theories can be explained. In sum, the contextualist reading can be used to understand both the perspectivist nature of the human sciences and their necessary reference to a perspective-independent reality.
Date: 12/07/2022
Kants Ideen der Vernunft. Eine kontextualistische Lesart (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Kants Ideen der Vernunft. Eine kontextualistische Lesart
Author: Katharina Kraus
Abstract: In this talk, a new, contextualist interpretation of Kant's ideas of reason will be presented. Drawing on contemporary analytic theories of contextuality, it will be argued that for Kant theoretical knowledge is sufficiently semantically determined and epistemically justifiable only in adequate contexts, and that ideas of reason are needed to demarcate and mentally map these contexts. The regulative use of ideas is thus not to produce descriptions of an existing or merely imagined metaphysical reality, but to exhibit two kinds of contexts: (i) contexts of intelligibility, within which a human subject can first of all conceive of his experience as a sufficiently semantically determined cognition of an object (of a certain kind), and (ii) contexts of evaluation, within which the truth of cognition could be ultimately judged in view of the world as it is in itself, and from whose projections normative standards for epistemic justifications can be derived. In sum, the contextualist reading allows us to understand both the perspectival nature of human knowledge and its necessary reference to a perspective-independent reality.
Date: 12/14/2022
Conference Name: Kolloquium, Philosophisches Seminar, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen (Germany)
Kant on the Rational Ideal of Harmony: The Demand for Self-Integration, Moral Agency, and Personal Happiness (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Kant on the Rational Ideal of Harmony: The Demand for Self-Integration, Moral Agency, and Personal Happiness
Author: Katharina Kraus
Abstract: Workshop Discussion of Paper:
This paper examines the role that the demand for self-integration, or for an inner systematic order and harmony, plays for Kant’s conceptions of personhood, moral agency, and happiness. In contrast to a self-constitution view, such as that of Korsgaard (2009), it argues for a self-formation view, according to which the demand for self-integration is a regulative rather than constitutive principle for the psychological constitution of a person and a necessary but not sufficient condition for the development of moral character. In the first part, the demand for self-integration is identified with the regulative principles of the non-moral idea of the soul, which have a normative function for the self-understanding and self-formation of persons. The second part focuses on its role in moral action and discusses whether the demand for self-integration is a necessary pre-condition for morality, and in particular for the formation of moral character. It answers this question by exploring three ways in which humans may fail to meet this demand. The third part examines whether compliance with this demand can contribute to personal happiness and considers possible external constraints to which the demand might be subject, given the state of the world (nature) as well as the will and psychological constitution of other people.
Date: 04/01/2023
Conference Name: DC-Baltimore Kant Workshop, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore (USA)
Kants Ideen der Vernunft. Eine kontextualistische Lesart (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Kants Ideen der Vernunft. Eine kontextualistische Lesart
Author: Katharina Kraus
Abstract: In this talk, a new, contextualist interpretation of Kant's ideas of reason will be presented. Drawing on contemporary analytic theories of contextuality, it will be argued that for Kant theoretical knowledge is sufficiently semantically determined and epistemically justifiable only in adequate contexts, and that ideas of reason are needed to demarcate and mentally map these contexts. The regulative use of ideas is thus not to produce descriptions of an existing or merely imagined metaphysical reality, but to exhibit two kinds of contexts: (i) contexts of intelligibility, within which a human subject can first of all conceive of his experience as a sufficiently semantically determined cognition of an object (of a certain kind), and (ii) contexts of evaluation, within which the truth of cognition could be ultimately judged in view of the world as it is in itself, and from whose projections normative standards for epistemic justifications can be derived. In sum, the contextualist reading allows us to understand both the perspectival nature of human knowledge and its necessary reference to a perspective-independent reality.
Date: 12/14/2022
Conference Name: Kolloquium, Philosophisches Seminar, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen (Germany)
Lou Salomé (1861-1937) (Book Section)
Title: Lou Salomé (1861-1937)
Author: Katharina Kraus
Editor: Kristin Gjesdal and Dalia Nassar
Abstract: Forthcoming in The Oxford Handbook of Nineteenth-Century Women Philosophers in the German Tradition, edited by Kristin Gjesdal and Dalia Nassar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
The goal of this chapter was to reevaluate and appreciate Lou Andreas-Salomé as a philosopher in her own right. It offers a detailed analysis of her original philosophy of life and its application within her feminist theory, by exploring its main features, clarifying the major influences on her position (especially the Nietzschean and Spinozist elements) and discussing it in the context of contemporary accounts of life in the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century (Dilthey, Simmel, and Bergson). Section One explores, in her work "The God" and related texts, her critique of religious experience and Enlightenment thought, and her positive account of life and the “faith in life,” highlighting specifically the Spinozist and Nietzschean influences on her position. Section Two focuses on her feminist writings, especially "The Human Being as a Woman", and examines how her philosophy of life plays out in her gender theory, according to which women are understood to live and develop according to a female life-form.
Year: 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Book Title: The Oxford Handbook of Nineteenth-Century Women Philosophers in the German Tradition
Salomé on Life, Religion, Self-Development, and Psychoanalysis: The Spinozistic Background (Book Section)
Title: Salomé on Life, Religion, Self-Development, and Psychoanalysis: The Spinozistic Background
Author: Katharina Kraus
Editor: Jason M. Yonover and Kristin Gjesdal
Abstract: To appear in Spinoza in Germany: Political and Religious Thought across the Long Nineteenth Century, edited by Jason M. Yonover and Kristin Gjesdal, Oxford University Press.
This chapter explores the influence of Spinoza’s philosophy both on Salomé’s early philosophy of life, before her encounter with psychoanalysis, and on her later work in psychoanalysis. It highlights how the Spinozistic elements of her thought mark a continuity throughout her work, despite shifts in terminology. More broadly, Salomé’s Spinozism could even be seen as a connecting link between the two movements to which she was closest, namely Lebensphilosophie and psychoanalysis. After a brief biographical sketch of her early encounter with Spinoza’s philosophy and her later turn to psychoanalysis in Section One, Section Two of the chapter examines three Spinozistic themes in Salomé’s thought: first her conception of the primordial ground (Urgrund) of life as the all-unity (All-Einheit), which is compared with Spinoza’s divine substance and the psychoanalytic concept of the Unconscious (2.1 and 2.2); second her psycho-somatic parallelism as two ways of representing life, which can be seen as building upon Spinoza’s account of mind and body (2.3); and third her account of the ethical dimension of human life, which has echoes of Spinoza’s theory of the affects and perfection (2.4). Salomé brings these three Spinozistic elements to bear in different areas of her work, such as in her accounts of God and religion, of eroticism and sexuality, of women and gender, and of human creativity and artistic productivity. Her most original contribution to the philosophical foundations of psychoanalysis is to replace Freud’s dualism on several levels with monism in the Spinozist sense, leading her to an original account of human self-development based on the assumption of a non-pathological primary narcissism and the parallelism of mind and body.
Year: 2024
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Book Title: Spinoza in Germany: Political and Religious Thought across the Long Nineteenth Century