Kant’s Dynamic Theory of Matter.

In-person conference, Brussels

7-8 March 2024 - Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.

Deadline for abstracts: 15 October 2023

Confirmation of acceptance: 30 October 2023

Anonymised abstracts should be sent as a pdf-file to kantmatter@gmail.com with personal information in the body of the email.

Confirmed speakers:

• Kristina Engelhard (Universität Trier)
• Paolo Pecere (Università degli Studi Roma Tre)
• Helmut Pulte (Ruhr-Universität Bochum)
• Marius Stan (Boston College)
• Daniel Sutherland (University of Illinois, Chicago)
• Daniel Warren (University of California, Berkeley)
• Henny Blomme (Université Libre de Bruxelles)
• Stephen Howard (KU Leuven)

Over the last few decades, scholars have made great advances in clarifying issues in Kant’s theory of matter as exposed in the Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science (MAN). Such issues include Kant’s accounts of the forces of matter, space-filling and mass; the dynamical and mechanical conceptions of matter and their respective laws; the role and scope of ‘construction’ in natural science; the phoronomical concept of motion and its role in matter theory; the applicability of mathematics to physical bodies; the regulative idea of absolute space; and the relationship between the 1786 work and the Critiques. Following the publication of McNulty, ed., Kant's Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science: A Critical Guide (2022), now is a good time to take stock and identify where further progress can be made in understanding and assessing Kant’s dynamic theory of matter, either by deepening existing debates or opening new areas of investigation.

We have a small number of slots available for additional speakers.

We invite abstracts of up to 500 words for talks of up to 35 minutes, plus 25 minutes discussion. We expect that contributions will be centred on the Metaphysical Foundations, with reference to the lecture notes, Nachlass, and/or earlier writings where relevant.

To help accepted junior scholars without personal research budgets to cover the costs of their participation, travel grants will be available from the RENEW18 research project, funded by the Belgian research councils FWO and F.R.S.-FNRS. Please indicate your circumstances in your email if you would like to apply for a travel grant. Lunches and the conference dinner will be provided for all speakers.

Organizers: Henny Blomme & Stephen Howard