20th Century Ethics (Sess 1) - Kant, A Grounding

This Meetup is the first in our series on 20th Century Ethics.

“Two things awe me most, starry heavens above me and moral law within me.” – Kant

For 2026 we will be launching a series of sessions focused on 20th Century Ethics. The series will build progressively over the course of the year, but individual sessions can be explored independently. The goals of the series are to a) move beyond the ‘greatest hits’ of historical philosophical works into more contemporary 20th Century debates, b) create a landscape of the diverse traditions in phenomenology, virtue ethics, critical theory, and neo-Kantianism, c) explore modern issues of identity, communication, justice, and animal rights, and d) stage opportunities to contrast different thinkers critically. While the content is advanced, the format and discussion style still affords individuals new to these works and, indeed, new to philosophy in general an excellent opportunity to learn and discuss in structured discussion-based environment.

The series will include

• Immanuel Kant – a foundational ‘grounding’ for the series
• Max Scheler – critique of Kant’s formalism with an emphasis on value theory.
• Emmanuel Levinas – Ethics as First Philosophy and the responsibility of the Other.
• Paul Ricoeur – identity and ethical responsibility with a focus on selfhood and justice.
• Juergen Habermas – socially embedded ethics.
• Alasdair MacIntyre – challenges Kantian universality with Aristotelian virtues ethics.
• Phillippa Foot – naturalistic virtue ethics
• Christine Korsgaard – moral norms and an argument for contemporary Kantian Ethics.
• Onora O’Neill – global justice and bioethics.
• Epilogue for the series – a comparative look at the threads of autonomy, responsibility, virtue and discourse in a comparative roundtable.

In this Meetup, Session 1, A Grounding, we will revisit Kant’s formalisms focusing on categorical imperative and freedom as the necessary condition for the moral law. To establish a proper grounding for the Series, we will be reading parts of two of Kant’s works, the Critique of Practical Reason (published 1788) and The Metaphysics of Morals (published 1797). By reading these works in parallel, we can more easily see Kant’s ethical philosophy move from abstract principle to applied duty. I will be using the Cambridge University Press editions but will reference paragraphs numbers in the discussion.

The following sections will be discussed
In the Critique

• Book 1, Ch 1: On the Principle of Pure Practical Reason ~30 pages
• Book1, Ch 2: On the Concept of an Object of Pure Practical Reason ~10 pages
  In Metaphysics
• Part 1, Intro to the Metaphysics of Morals, ~14 pages
• Part 1, Intro to the Doctrine of Right, ~11 pages
• Part 2, Introduction to the Doctrine of Virtue, ~25 pages

In 2026 we will begin recording the sessions to create an archive summarization of sessions, which will be shared with all attendees. I am truly excited about 2026 and hope that you will participate in the series and help make it a fulfilling experience for all of the participants.

Hope to see you at the session.