Guidance for Kant and German Classical Philosophy

[nss1988]

First of all, I present myself: I’m Nicolás, a Chilean student looking forward to continue my studies of Philosophy in the USA.

In terms of authors my AOI are Kant and German Classical Philosophy, and in terms s of research topic my AOI are the critique of the metaphysic and the structure of reason as a System.

I’ve checked the Leiter’s report on specialty rankings for 2016-17 for Kant and 19th Century Philosophy. According to that information, these Universities have a proper department for my AOI:

Chicago, Brown, Columbia, New York, University of California (Riverside), Johns Hopkins University, Indiana University (Bloomington), University of California (San Diego), Stanford University [There are not ordered]

But I find that there are two problems with this piece of information: First, it seems that it is a bit outdated (It was posted in 9.21.16), so I will have to wait for the new report to come. Second, the ranking seems to be a bit abstract to me, because it doesn’t give a detailed explanation about the reasons and motives that guided its structure.

So, given that, I would like to ask you for guidance. According to your opinion, in which departments do you think I would fit adequately? Should I look in other areas too such as Religion, German Studies, etc.?

Thank you in advance for your time.

[Glasperlenspieler]

A new edition of the Philosophical Gourmet rankings should be coming out soon (by the end of the month, I think), so keep a look out for that. Lots of people on these boards are highly critical of those rankings, and for some good reasons. I do think they're useful though, as long as you take them with a grain of salt. The specially rankings are compiled by an anonymous survey of (a selected group) of specialists in the field, in which they are asked to evaluate programs on a scale of 1 to 5. (Anonymous in the sense that we don't know how a given person ranked each department. There is, however, a list of evaluators). 

All of the programs you list are strong in German philosophy. However, with the information you've given us, it's hard to say which programs you should be looking at. People who work in Kant and 19th C German philosophy approach it from wildly different perspectives. The best thing to do is probably to try to read some papers from different people in the field and see which approaches align with your own. You could start with some of the professors at the universities you list (Paul Guyer, Beatrice Longuenesse, Allen Wood, R Lanier Anderson, Pierre Keller, Robert Pippin, Eckart Foerster, Clinton Tolley, etc.). Philosophy admissions are extremely competitive, so it may not be a bad idea to apply to many departments with the hope that you can get into at least a couple of them. 

There are certainly people working on Kant and German philosophy in German and religious studies departments, but they tend to gravitate towards different approaches than what you'll find in philosophy departments, so it definitely depends on what you're looking for. Keep in mind though, if you go to a German studies department, you will be expected to deal with German literature to some extent and in a Religious studies department, you would likely be expected to take into account other aspects of religious studies as a field.

[nss1988]

Thanks a lot for the info!

[be.]

UCSD is perhaps the best graduate program in the U.S. for studying Kant. Lucy Allais, Eric Watkins, and Clinton Tolley teach there, and they are three of the very best Kant scholars working today.

I would be wary of Brown, as Paul Guyer is probably close to retirement. Same goes for Indiana: Allen Wood will likely retire in the next few years. 

Also, you might check out Princeton, which just hired Andrew Chignell away from Penn.

[nss1988]

Thanks be. for the useful info!

[thehegeldialectic]

The Leiter report is pretty bogus, especially when it comes to the history of philosophy and anything remotely continental.

I would look at the list of schools on the SPEP page instead. 

http://www.spep.org/resources/graduate-programs/

Most of these programs will have someone working on Kant/19th century philosophy.

 

Edited January 27, 2018 by iunoionnis

[Glasperlenspieler]

2 hours ago, iunoionnis said:

The Leiter report is pretty bogus, especially when it comes to the history of philosophy and anything remotely continental.

I would look at the list of schools on the SPEP page instead. 

Lol.

It might be helpful to provide arguments for this position as opposed to just name-calling. Nobody is saying that the Philosophical Gourmet report is the word of God, but it's a useful starting point for researching grad programs, especially if you focus on the specialty rankings. The Kant ranking in 14-15, for instance, consisted of evaluations from Anne Margaret Baxley, Andrew Chignell, Maudemarie Clark, Paul Guyer, Stephen Houlgate, Pierre Keller, Michelle Kosch, Derk Pereboom, Peter Poellner, Michael Rosen, Helga Varden, Eric Watkins, Robert Wicks, and Allen Wood. Those are opinions I would probably want to consider if I were looking to write a dissertation on Kant

The SPEP list you mention, on the other hand, lists no methodology whatsoever. However, the note on top stating: " If you wish to submit a departmental description, or to report a broken link, please click here to email us" suggests that this is merely a list of those graduate programs who have contacted SPEP and asked to be included. It's a strange list too. It includes, for instance, UT Austin and WUSTL. Now, Austin has a few people working in German philosophy but the department is by and large focused on rather technical areas in analytic philosophy, so I doubt I would suggest that some one interesting in "continental" philosophy attend there. WUSTL, while certainly a strong program, strikes me as having even less to interest someone focusing on German or French philosophy. UCSD, on the other hand, is no where to be seen, despite being one of the strongest places to study Kant right now, as @be. rightly notes. Neither is UChicago, which has a breadth in German philosophy that few departments can rival.

2 hours ago, iunoionnis said:

Most of these programs will have someone working on Kant/19th century philosophy.

Having someone who works on Kant/19th century philosophy is hardly a sufficient condition for a being a good place to study Kant. This is doubly true if one hopes to attain an academic job afterwards.

[lyellgeo]

It would be helpful if someone knows the non-Leiter ranked programs (either because they choose not to be included, or because they wouldn't be ranked) that have strengths in Kant, which I understand as having at least 2 people actively working and publishing on issues in Kant scholarship. I don't know myself what programs those would be, but the information would be helpful. Also, as others have mentioned, it matters what area of Kant you're interested in (whether moral philosophy, metaphysics, aesthetics, and so on). The very top Kant scholars (people like Guyer and Allais) will know it all anyway, but most other people will tend to have a specific part that they focus on. Take that all with a grain of salt though, as I don't really know the current state of Kant scholarship that well myself. 

Edited January 27, 2018 by lyellgeo

[dgswaim]

Although we just lost Andrew Chignell, Penn is definitely still worth considering. Gary Hatfield is a great on Kant (the most widely used translation of the Prolegomena is his, for instance), and Rolf Horstmann is here every fall.