Maxims and MRIs:
Kantian Ethics and Empirical Psychology
A two-day workshop to be held at the University of Toronto, Centre for Ethics, Toronto, ON, Canada
May 9-10, 2014
In recent years, many moral philosophers have drawn inspiration from the exciting new empirical research that is being done in moral psychology. And yet not all philosophers have been as eager to embrace this trend. In particular, there has been significant over-representation of sentimentalists and non-cognitivists among theorists who have chosen to engage with contemporary psychological research. The aim of the conference is help correct this imbalance, by discussing the significance of empirical psychology for moral cognitivism, with particular emphasis on Kantian moral theory (understood broadly, to include Kant's ethics, current Kantian ethics, and related versions of moral rationalism).
Program
Friday, May 9
Heidi Maibom (University of Cincinnati) "Practical Reason in the Age of Neuroscience"?
Pauline Kleingeld (University of Groningen) “Debunking Confabulation: Emotions and the Significance of Empirical Psychology for Kantian Ethics”
Susan Dwyer (University of Maryland) "Is there a Junction for Judgment?"
Marijana Vujosevic (University of Groningen) "Conscience as the Specific Rational Deficit of Psychopaths"
Barbara Herman (University of California Los Angeles) “Love and Attachment: Just What Kantian Theory Needs”
Saturday, May 10
Joseph Heath (University of Toronto) "Why do People Behave Immorally When Drunk?"
Tom Bates (University of Groningen) "Mixed vs. Moderate Traits: On the Evaluative Status of Empirically Sound Character"
Patrick Frierson (Whitman College) "Character in Kant's Moral Psychology: Responding to the Situationist Challenge"
Jeanette Kennett (Macquarie University), “Reactive Attitudes, Reason, and Responsibility”
Hanno Sauer (Tilburg University) "The Weakest Link. Realism, Debunking, and the Darwinian Dilemma"
Organizing committee:
Joseph Heath, Pauline Kleingeld, Arthur Ripstein, Sergio Tenenbaum, Louis-Philippe Hodgson
Contacts:
Pauline Kleingeld: pauline.kleingeld@rug.nl
Joseph Heath: joseph.heath@utoronto.ca