We are glad to give notice of the series of events Kant 300, which will take place on November 6th-9th, 2024, in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

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In 2024, we celebrate the 300th anniversary of the birth of a philosopher who, perhaps like no other in the history of ideas in the Occident, has left such lasting impressions: Immanuel Kant. To honour this, the University of Ljubljana, Goethe Institute Ljubljana, Humboldt University, the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory at the University of Belgrade and Cankarjev dom will organise a series of events dedicated to Kant’s thought, philosophy and relevance in our times.

Kant is still reflected in many reflections today. To highlight just a few that have marked his trajectory in thought. The failure to prove that God exists gives us the freedom to believe in him – or indeed not (1781); let us be courageous, let us dare to think with our own reason, or we will be guided by others (1784); let us never regard our fellow man as a mere means, but always as the end of our action (1792); let us live in republican states, whose international relations will be governed by a union of nations oriented towards eternal peace (1795).

Without Kant, the foremost figure of Enlightenment philosophy, who was not without flaws in his universalism, we would not have been able to rely on our contemporary shared values, at least since the French Revolution, let alone fear some of its symptoms in today’s changing world order. This also raises questions as to whether individual dignity and freedom, the sanctuaries of liberal democracies, are perhaps really just caprices of the Western world?

Without the Enlightenment, we would not have equality for women in Europe today, nor societies governed by democratic constitutions. The Enlightenment paved the way for Europe to make immense progress in civilisation, culture and technology. However, the contemporary society still owes a debt to it today: not only has its seemingly glorious rise taken a heavy toll on the world, but it has not yet reached the principles of Enlightenment itself.

Three evenings of conversation with guests of global significance at Cankarjev dom and a conference, which will deal with the relevance of the Enlightenment, Kant and his conception of war and peace, by illuminating the main entrance of the Slovenian largest cultural institution – Cankarjev dom – in November, we will further illustrate the relevance of Enlightenment ideas and the thoughts of this period that have become part of the cultural and political canon across the world. The idea of the light installation is to show, alongside and with Kant, the thoughts of authors who were influenced by or derived from the philosophy of the Königsberg philosopher.

The light installation is a project by Mischa Kuball entitled “Kant and others …”, which will be on show from 6 to 20 November 2024 in front of Cankarjev dom. It aims to show that democracy and freedom of expression are inseparable values that all modern communities have a debt to uphold. In fact, it is a challenge to first conceive of the basic conditions for peaceful coexistence, and then to ensure and realise these conditions for all the world’s inhabitants.

The artist’s project is closely linked to the efforts of the Goethe-Institut, which seeks to connect peoples and countries around the world through language and cultural cooperation and University of Ljubljana, which is subjected only to its own laws, the laws of reason, but only at the price of being cut off from all levers of power; it can only care for truth in so far as it is itself without any power. The prerequisite for this is to listen carefully to each other and try to understand the opposing viewpoint, and thus to lay the foundations for the perhaps even fiery debates we are witnessing in current discourses.

 

A series of conversations on Kant.

6 November at 19.30
Kant as a warmonger? On the relevance of Kant’s peace theory
Participants: Zdravko Kobe & Otfried Höffe (moderator: Bojana Jovićević)

7 November at 19.30
Kant at War
Participants: Maurizio Ferraris & Goran Vranešević
Alma Karlin Hall

8 November at 19.30
Uncanny Kant
Participants: Alenka Zupančič & Dominik Finkelde
Alma Karlin Hall

International Conference War and Peace after Kant

7-9 November from 9.30 a.m.
Participants: Corina Mieth, Daniel Elon, Ognian Kassabov, Petar Bojanić, Attay Kremer, Roberta Picardi, Hector Jimenez Garcia, Bojana Jovićević, Levi Haeck, Caecile Varsllev Pedersen, Martin Hergouth, Anna Enstrom, Yuval Kremitzer, Igor Cvejić, Goran Vranešević, Aleksei Krouglov
Alma Karlin Hall

All conference events will be streamed on Youtube.

 

For further information, please visit the website.

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