About Us

Details about our own careers and publications are available at the philosophy department websites of University of Pennsylvania and Northwestern University. We would like, however, to provide a brief description here of our interests as they are related to this project.

Our research interests have focused on German philosophy, particularly on Kant's Aesthetics, as well as aesthetics more generally. Paul has written three books wholely or in part on Kant's Critique of the Power of Judgment, as well as numerous other books and articles on all aspects of Kant's philosophy, as well as on other figures in early modern and German Idealist philosophy. Rachel has written articles and recently finished a book on Kant's Critique of the Power of Judgment.

We both, therefore, come to this project with enthusiasm as part of new, expanded research interests concerning Kant's historical context and broader issues in philosophical aesthetics.

Rachel is currently working on a book on J.G.F. Herder's aesthetic theory, which was deeply influenced by the Scottish Enlightenment (particularly Kames). The study of the works we will discuss in this seminar is crucial not only for understanding the intellectual-historical origins of Herder's thought, but also for exploring one of the central tensions in his aesthetic theory. Like the Scots, Herder wished to reconcile two apparently opposing claims concerning aesthetic and artistic value: that it is to be explained by reference common natural characteristics of the human organism, and that it is historically and culturally influenced, indeed is valuable in part because it expresses the historical and cultural specificity of its social context.

Paul has previously published many essays on various aspects of eighteenth-century aesthetics, including essays on the debate about disinterestedness and on Moses Mendelssohn collected in his 1993 book Kant and the Experience of Freedom and essays on Hume, Gerard, and Alison collected in his 2005 Values of Beauty. He is currently working on a comprehensive history of philosophical aesthetics from the beginning of the eighteenth century until the end of the twentieth. The central theme of this work is that modern aesthetics has been defined by contrast and interaction between the ancient idea that aesthetic experience offers a special form of access to important metaphysical and moral truths and the modern idea that aesthetic experience is a free play of human powers that does not need justification by external standards although it may have external benefits. Thinkers such as Hutcheson, Gerard, Kames, and Alison were seminal in the development of this new idea, Reid resisted it, and Kant is a perfect illustration of the interaction between the old and new idea. Paul is looking forward to the opportunity to test out his interpretations of these works in this seminar.