My research examines the social and political dimensions of Immanuel Kant’s practical philosophy.
In Kant and Structural Injustice, I argue that this concept sheds new light on Kant’s Doctrine of Right. I highlight a tension between Kant’s ideals of freedom, equality, and independence and his vision of a just state, which largely excludes workers, women, and the poor from participation in these ideals. This points to structural weaknesses in modern democracies, where egalitarian principles coexist with exclusion and exploitation.
In The Realm of Ends, The Ethical Commonwealth and Kant’s Heaven on Earth, I trace the development of Kant’s communal moral concepts –f rom the first Critique's “system of ends” to the “realm of ends” – and argue that moral agency requires an ethical community, to bring the demandingness of moral duties within human measure.
In a third paper, Kant’s Cosmopolitanisms: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, I compare three strands of Kant’s cosmopolitan thought: his teleological philosophy of history, his account of cosmopolitan right, and the ethical community. While the latter offers the strongest resources against exclusion and domination, its grounding in individual ethical life limits its scope for wider impact.
Recent talks and events:
12.01.2026 Berlin Project Workshop, Towards The Realm of Ends And Means, Paper: The Realm of Ends and Means: Kant and Graeber
7.10.2025 University of Buenos Aires, Workshop JUSTLA/UBA – Crisis de la democracia e Injusticia Estructural, Paper: Kant and Structural Injustice – Lessons from the Doctrine of Right
29.09-3.10.2025, University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, XI Multilateral Kant Colloquium, Paper: Kant’s Cosmopolitanisms: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
30.08.2025, University of Bristol, Conference: Kant on Hope and Politics
22.-24.05.2025 Luiss Guido Carli University, Rome, ABC Workshop ‘Heuristics in Government’, Paper: Kantian policies against the information monopoly of the social media platforms
28-31.03.2025 Ruhr-University Bochum, Project Conference: Migration/Work/Climate. Towards The Realm of Ends and Means, Paper: Kant and The Information Overload
21.10.2024 Goethe Institute London, Panel: Kant and Climate Change
17-19.10.2024 Catania, Conference: Immanuel Kant, 300 Years from now, Paper: Kant's Cosmopolitanisms: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
8-13.09.2024 Bonn, 14. Internationaler Kant-Congress, Paper: The Realm of Ends, The Ethical Commonwealth and Kant’s Heaven on Earth
10-11.07.2024 Swansea, ASPP Annual Conference, Paper: Kant’s Racial Cosmopolitanism
3.07.2024 Bochum, Digital Kant Centre, Paper: Kant und offene Fragen der Migration
18-20.03.2024 Chicago, Conference: What's Left Of Kant?, Paper: Paper: Structural Injustice: Lessons from Kant’s Doctrine of Right
2-4.02.2024, Bochum, Conference: Kantian Perspectives: Borders/Exploitation/Degradation, Paper: Structural Injustice: Lessons from Kant’s Doctrine of Right
12.12.2023, Forschungskolloquium Dortmund/Bochum, Paper: Structural Injustice and Hope:Lessons from Kant’s Justice
4-6.11.2023, Lancaster University, Conference: Kant: politics/markets, Paper: Kant and Structural Injustice
25.10.2023, University of Lodz, Introduction to the screening of the film ‘Newcomers’ by Ma’an Mousli
23.10.2023, Warsaw University, Introduction to the screening of the film ‘Newcomers’ by Ma’an Mousli
15-16.09.2023, University of Cologne, Conference: Kant on Epistemic Autonomy and Authority, Invited Commentator: Sophie Møller, Kant on Discipline and Autonomy in Thought
Recent relevant publications
Forthcoming. The Realm of Ends, The Ethical Commonwealth and Kant’s Heaven on Earth. C Horn, M Ruffing & R Schäfer (eds), Proceedings of the 14th International Kant Congress (Bonn, 2024) / Akten des XIV. Internationalen Kant-Kongresses
2022 Kant’s Cosmopolitanism and The Value of Humanity – Implications for a Universal Right to Citizenship, in Horn, C., dos Santos R. (eds), Kant’s Theory of Value, pp.163-180, Kantstudien-Ergänzungshefte Vol 2019, Berlin:De Gruyter.
2022 The Application of Metaphysical Principles to the Empirical World. A Brief Reconstruction of the Core of Kant’s Doctrine of Right, in Practica et speculativa. Studies offered to Andrzej M. Kaniowski, Lodz: University of Lodz Press, pp. 543-560.
2021 Kantian Moral Education for The Future of Humanity: The Climate Change Challenge, in Journal of Philosophy of Education, 55(4), 1045-1056