SIRD Conference: Reassessing the Relation Between Hobbes’s and Kant’s Political Philosophy

You are warmly invited to a Conference dedicated to two giants of modern philosophy: Thomas Hobbes and Immanuel Kant.  Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan published in 1651 is the first systematic treatise to throw light on the foundations of the sovereign state and has been described as “the greatest, perhaps the sole, masterpiece of political philosophy written in the English language.” Immanuel Kant, who was born 300 years ago in Königsberg, introduced the Copernican Revolution in philosophy by asking not what there is, but what transcendental conditions of cognition enable the human mind to think of possible objects of experience. Like Hobbes, Kant made lasting contributions to the areas of epistemology, ethics, law, and politics.

The central theme of the Conference is “Re-assessing the Relation between Hobbes’s and Kant’s  Political Philosophy”. Presentations by specialists in the field include:

Kant’s A Priori and Hobbes’s Political Philosophy
Prof. Howard Williams, Cardiff University   9.15 – 10.00

Hobbes and Kant: Liberty and Monarchy
Prof. Renato Cristi, Wilfrid Laurier University  10.15 – 11.00

Hobbes and Kant on Barbarism and the State of Nature
Prof. Oliver Eberl, Philipps-Universität Marburg  11.15 – 12.00

Lunch Break 12.00 – 13.15     

Kant and Hobbes on the Nature of Public Law
Dr Mike Gregory, University of Edinburgh 13.15 – 14.00

Hobbes, Kant, and Transcultural Political Philosophy
Dr Janusz Salamon, Charles University                 14.15 – 15.00

Justifying the Coercive Public Authority of the State to Free Persons: Hobbes as a Precursor of Kant
Dr Silviya Lechner, Anglo-American University   15.15 – 16.00

Sponsorship

The Conference is organized and sponsored by the Department of International Relations and Diplomacy at the Anglo-American University, Prague and the journal Kantian Review.

Venue 

This one-day event will be held on 15 October 2024 at the premises of AAU on Letenska 120/5, Prague 118 00, Czech Republic in Room 2.07. 

Registration and Attendance by the Public

No registration is required. Attendance is free and open to the public. The event is in-person only.