Dilek Huseyinzadegan
Emory University, Philosophy, Faculty Member
- Political Philosophy, Immanuel Kant, Continental Philosophy, Critical Philosophy of Race, Feminism, Decolonial Thought, and 13 moreKant's Political Philosophy, Gender and Sexuality, 18th- and 19th-century philosophy, G.W.F. Hegel, Film and Philosophy, Charles Mills, Michel Foucault, Critical Theory, Frankfurt School, Adorno/Horkheimer, Enrique Dussell, Cherríe Moraga, and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruzedit
- Dilek Huseyinzadegan is a feminist and antiracist political philosopher, specializing in the Enlightenment and contemporary social and political thought.edit
Research Interests: Political Geography and Geopolitics, Political Philosophy, Philosophical Anthropology, Political Theory, Cosmopolitanism, and 9 moreKant's Practical Philosophy, Philosophy of History, Postcolonial Theory, Immanuel Kant, Social and Political Philosophy, Kant's Political Philosophy, Decolonial Thought, Ideal and Non-Ideal Theory, and Critical Philosophy of Race
This article shows that the methodology of Mills' 'Black Radical Kantianism' (BRK) represents a major plot twist for Kant studies as well as contemporary political philosophy utilizing Kantian ideas. BRK is no mere upgrade of Kant's or... more
This article shows that the methodology of Mills' 'Black Radical Kantianism' (BRK) represents a major plot twist for Kant studies as well as contemporary political philosophy utilizing Kantian ideas. BRK is no mere upgrade of Kant's or Kantian ideal theory for racial justice. Mills' methodology requires us to posit both that the real Kant and establishment Kantianism have been racist, sexist and Eurocentric; and that only by first admitting and reckoning with the compatibility of white supremacy and liberal egalitarianism can we hope to radicalize Kant or Kantianism.
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In this essay, we do not presuppose that Kantian philosophy is useful for feminist theorizing, but suggest that feminist political theorists treat Kant, as a theorist of the Enlightenment, as instructive in naming the Enlightenment... more
In this essay, we do not presuppose that Kantian philosophy is useful for feminist theorizing, but suggest that feminist political theorists treat Kant, as a theorist of the Enlightenment, as instructive in naming the Enlightenment problem in liberalism in both theory and praxis. Accordingly, here we have refused to assume that Kantianism is a useful tool for correcting the intersectional injustices of our contemporary world, injustices with which it remains complicit. When we focus only on gender and reproduce non-intersectional methodologies in our contemporary engagements with Kant, it becomes impossible to hold Kant accountable for the ways that his non-ideal thinking organizes his ideal theory, or to ask what we reproduce when we reproduce Kantian ideas in feminist political theory.
Research Interests: Political Philosophy, Liberalism, Enlightenment, German Idealism, Public Sphere, and 11 moreBlack feminism, Immanuel Kant, Enlightenment Political Thought, Citizenship, Iris Marion Young, Nancy Fraser, Feminist Political Theory, Decolonial Feminism, Intersectional Feminism, Sylvia Wynter, and Tiffany Lethabo King
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Book Review of Inés Valdez's book
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Enlightenment is the human being's emergence from his self-incurred minority. Minority is the inability to make use of one's own understanding without direction from another," wrote Kant (WE, Ak8: 35, 17). This short 1784 essay "What is... more
Enlightenment is the human being's emergence from his self-incurred minority. Minority is the inability to make use of one's own understanding without direction from another," wrote Kant (WE, Ak8: 35, 17). This short 1784 essay "What is Enlightenment?" starts out by deeming the motto of the age of Enlightenment to be "Sapere Aude" or "Have courage to make use of your own understanding," and proposes civil and political progress to be the destiny of humankind. Drawing on this motto, Kant defines enlightenment here as an "emergence from self-incurred minority [Unmündigkeit]". Pointing out that the lazy and cowardly masses ("including the entire fair sex," he writes parenthetically) are often too happy to remain minor or immature by relying on an authority in all important matters pertaining to their lives, Kant contends that it may be difficult for individuals to exit from this selfimposed tutelage or to dare to think for themselves on their own, but that it is more likely that a public may enlighten itself as a whole. Enlightenment then refers to a collective progress toward maturity [Mündigkeit], i.e. independence. Kantian feminists have reacted to the parenthetical remark about the "fair sex" in a number of ways. Some claim that Kant encourages everyone, including women, to use their reason to be mature and participate in the project of enlightenment; 1 while others argue that Kant excludes women from this project because of their natural immaturity and lack of courage that "runs counter to a precondition for a human 'ideal', namely, that of Mündigkeit" or because of their peculiar civil and legal immaturity that precludes them from taking part in civil and political progress.
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Research Interests: Political Geography and Geopolitics, Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Philosophical Anthropology, Political Theory, and 9 morePolitics, Cosmopolitanism, Philosophy of History, Postcolonial Theory, Immanuel Kant, Social and Political Philosophy, Decolonial Thought, Ideal and Non-Ideal Theory, and Critical Philosophy of Race
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While Kant’s political writings employ a teleological language, the exact benefit of such language to his politics is far from clear. Against recent interpretations of Kant’s political thought, which downplay or dismiss the role of... more
While Kant’s political writings employ a teleological language, the exact benefit of such language to his politics is far from clear. Against recent interpretations of Kant’s political thought, which downplay or dismiss the role of teleology, I restoreZweckmässigkeit to its place in Kant’s politics as a theoretically and practically useful material principle, and show that a teleological perspective complements the perspective stipulated by the formal principle ofRecht. By means of a systematic reconstruction of what I call ‘political Zweckmässigkeit’, we gain a fuller portrayal of and a valuable insight into Kant’s political thought.
According to Habermas, Adorno and Horkheimer's version of critical theory is self-implicated in its interpretation of rationality and domination, in that their critique does not seem to allow for the possibility of a power- or... more
According to Habermas, Adorno and Horkheimer's version of critical theory is self-implicated in its interpretation of rationality and domination, in that their critique does not seem to allow for the possibility of a power- or domination-free rationality, and this implies a relapse into irrationality, dogmatism and pessimism. However, there seems to be something strange about a "pessimistic" work by Adorno and Horkheimer, who attempt to historicize the seemingly ahistorical truths of philosophy and seek to bring about a social transformation through critique. If they are interested in change, why would they write a dogmatic history of the Enlightenment that suggests that rationality necessarily results in blind domination and Auschwitz? This is the question that prompts this paper: drawing on Adorno's other works on history, I argue that the Dialectic of Enlightenment offers a narrative of the enlightenment that can be characterized along the lines of a genealogy, ...
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As feminist scholars, we hope that our own work is exempt from structural problems such as racism, sexism, and Eurocentricism, that is, the kind of problems that are exemplified and enacted by Kant’s works. In other words, we hope that we... more
As feminist scholars, we hope that our own work is exempt from structural problems such as racism, sexism, and Eurocentricism, that is, the kind of problems that are exemplified and enacted by Kant’s works. In other words, we hope that we do not re-enact, implicitly or explicitly, Kant’s problematic claims, which range from the unnaturalness of a female philosopher, “who might as well have a beard,” the stupid things that a black carpenter said “because he was black from head to foot,” the poor women “living in the greatest slavery in the Orient,” to the “sheep-like existence of the inhabitants of Tahiti.” In this piece, I argue that we cannot simply hope to avoid these problems unless we are vigilant about incorporating the full picture of Kant’s and Kantian philosophy into our feminist appropriations. I will show that one way to minimize if not altogether avoid this risk is to follow the model of a new methodology that establishes the continued relevance of all of Kant’s claims fo...
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While Kant’s political writings employ a teleological language, the exact benefit of such language to his politics is far from clear. Against recent interpretations of Kant’s political thought, which downplay or dismiss the role of... more
While Kant’s political writings employ a teleological language, the exact benefit of such language to his politics is far from clear. Against recent interpretations of Kant’s political thought, which downplay or dismiss the role of teleology, I restoreZweckmässigkeitto its place in Kant’s politics as a theoretically and practically useful material principle, and show that a teleological perspective complements the perspective stipulated by the formal principle ofRecht. By means of a systematic reconstruction of what I call ‘politicalZweckmässigkeit’, we gain a fuller portrayal of and a valuable insight into Kant’s political thought.
Research Interests: Philosophy and Kantian
Research Interests: Philosophy and Kantian
According to Habermas, Adorno and Horkheimer�s version of critical theory is self-implicated in its interpretation of rationality and domination, in that their critique does not seem to allow for the possibility of a power- or... more
According to Habermas, Adorno and Horkheimer�s version of critical theory is self-implicated in its interpretation of rationality and domination, in that their critique does not seem to allow for the possibility of a power- or domination-free rationality, and this implies a relapse into irrationality, dogmatism and pessimism. However, there seems to be something strange about a �pessimistic� work by Adorno
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As feminist scholars, we hope that our own work is exempt from structural problems such as racism, sexism, and Eurocentricism, that is, the kind of problems that are exemplified and enacted by Kant’s works. In other words, we hope that we... more
As feminist scholars, we hope that our own work is exempt from structural problems such as racism, sexism, and Eurocentricism, that is, the kind of problems that are exemplified and enacted by Kant’s works. In other words, we hope that we do not re-enact, implicitly or explicitly, Kant’s problematic claims, which range from the unnaturalness of a female philosopher, “who might as well have a beard,” the stupid things that a black carpenter said “because he was black from head to foot,” the poor women “living in the greatest slavery in the Orient,” to the “sheep-like existence of the inhabitants of Tahiti.” In this piece, I argue that we cannot simply hope to avoid these problems unless we are vigilant about incorporating the full picture of Kant’s and Kantian philosophy into our feminist appropriations. I will show that one way to minimize if not altogether avoid this risk is to follow the model of a new methodology that establishes the continued relevance of all of Kant’s claims fo...
Hosted by Emory University from May 27-29, 2016 Atlanta, GA
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Poster with keynotes and AMCs, sponsorship and contact information