Philosophy Seminar: Laws and Limits of Reason

This month’s seminar will be hosted by our friend Albert Hoffman and is entitled “Laws and Limits of Reason”. In this seminar, we'll be exploring the philosophy of Immanuel Kant who has shaped modern philosophy more than almost any other thinker.

In this seminar, we'll explore his central project: mapping both the powers and the boundaries of human reason. What can we actually know, and where does knowledge run out? How does Kant ground morality not in consequences or custom, but in reason itself — culminating in the Categorical Imperative? And what does it mean to think and act autonomously, guided by self-given law rather than external authority?

We'll work through key ideas from Kant's critical philosophy — the distinction between phenomena and noumena, the structure of the categorical imperative, and his famous call to "dare to know" (sapere aude) — and open space for dialogue on how these ideas hold up (or don't) against our own experience of reason, freedom, and moral responsibility.

Whether you are new to Kant or already familiar with his work, join us for a discussion of what it means to think and act freely — and what “daring to know” (sapere aude) might still ask of us today.

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We’ll have tea and light snacks, but please feel free to bring any drink or snack you’d like to share!

If the weather allows for it, we will try to meet outside and, if not, an alternative location will be posted well before the event.