Both Kantian and post-Kantian Idealism emerged out of an engagement with problems of skepticism. Kant was famously led to develop his critical philosophy after being awoken from his ‘dogmatic slumbers’ by Hume’s empiricist skepticism, whilst his practical philosophy continually wrestles with the problem of how to respond to skeptical demands to prove the validity of the moral law – and of whether we need to. His idealist successors then worried that Kant’s own philosophy itself entailed skeptical consequences: a restriction of cognition to appearances, the relegation of metaphysical truths to the realm of faith and a banishment of moral worth from the realm of the knowable. These problems, they thought, were symptomatic of Kant’s remaining within a framework shaped by the problematic of modern skepticism. To be a true science, they thought, philosophy had to confront and overcome the radical challenge of ancient skepticism. Assessments of their success or failure in doing so went on to determine the course of German philosophy.
This year’s summer school engages with this complex of issues, which will be explored through a series of workshops and keynote lectures. The summer school will be led by Markus Gabriel and Michael Forster, with keynote speakers including Karl Schafer (UT Austin), Jessica Berry (Georgia State), Dietmar Heidemann (Luxembourg), Nick Stang (Toronto), and others.
Date: August 11-22, 2025
Location: International Centre for Philosophy NRW, Poppelsdorfer Allee 28, 53115 Bonn.
If you wish to attend, please submit an application consisting of a CV (max 2 pages) and a statement of interest (max 1 page) combined in one document to Alex Englander (alexeng@uni-bonn.de) by June 10th.
For students who require financial assistance to cover travel and accommodation expenses, there will be a small number of stipends available. If you require a stipend, please indicate this in your statement of interest.
