“Yes we Kant:” Department of Philosophy hosts inaugural Kant in Canada conference

2024 marks the 300th birthday of Immanuel Kant – one of the most influential philosophers of the past three centuries, whose insights into legal, moral and political thought had a profound impact on the development of contemporary conceptions and development of human rights.

The milestone year also marked the first-ever Kant in Canada Conference, which was hosted by McMaster earlier this month. Funded by a SSHRC Connection grant together with the philosophy department and Faculty of Humanities at McMaster, the event connected Kant scholars from across Canada to meet and discuss their research projects, which build on Kant’s initial work not only in legal and political philosophy, but also in aesthetics, psychology and the mind.

The conference hosted a total of 11 speakers who presented on December 4 and December 5. At the end of each talk, a question-and-answer period provided discussion and feedback to help the presenters develop their projects further.

For the students who attended, the conference was an opportunity to make connections with professors from different universities. On a larger scale, the event was initiated with the goal of establishing an accessible network of Kant scholars across Canada, with the connections between like-minded scholars interested in similar projects providing a beneficial way to develop philosophical work.

Alice Pinheiro Walla, a professor in the Department of Philosophy whose research combines Kant scholarship with the analytic tradition in philosophy, organized the conference. Helping Pinheiro Walla with the conference’s organization were two PhD students, also from the philosophy department, Logan Ginther and Isaias Ruiz.

“As an aspiring Kant scholar myself, the event meant a lot to me,” said Ginther, whose work focuses on Kantian ethics.

“It was an encouraging opportunity to engage with experts in the field, and the community established here is promising for the future of Kant scholarship in Canada.”