I'm a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago’s Department of Philosophy.
My main areas of research are Kant, ethics and philosophy of law. In addition, I have a strong interest in post-Kantian German philosophy through Marx and social philosophy.
Research
I am currently working on two projects: the first is an interpretation of the practical purpose of moral philosophy in Kant, which I argue is best understood as therapeutic; the second is an account of the relation between epistemic and action-guiding norms in law. While the projects are separate, they are linked by my overarching interest in the relation between theory and practice.
A paper on the efficacy of law
available on request
A paper on Kant's casuistical questions
available on request
A paper on Kant's enlightenment project
available on request
A paper on dehumanization and metaphor
in progress
A book on the practical purpose and limits of moral philosophy in Kant
in progress
‘Kant's Derivation of Imperatives of Duty’
2024, Kantian Review (open access)
On the currently dominant reading of the 'Groundwork,' Kant’s derivation of ‘imperatives of duty’ exemplifies a decision-procedure for the derivation of concrete duties in moral deliberation. However, Kant’s response to an often-misidentified criticism of the 'Groundwork' by G. A. Tittel suggests that Kant was remarkably unconcerned with arguing for the practicality of the categorical imperative as a decision-procedure. Instead, I argue that the main aim of Kant’s derivation of imperatives of duty was to show how his analysis of the form of moral judgement is indeed presupposed in the four types of moral imperative that philosophers of his time recognized.
Download PDF‘Kant's Racism as a Philosophical Problem’
2023, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly (open access)
Immanuel Kant was possibly both the most influential racist as well as the most influential moral philosopher of modern, western thought. So far, authors have either interpreted Kant as an ‘inconsistent egalitarian’ or as a ‘consistent inegalitarian.’ On the former view, Kant failed to draw the necessary conclusions from his own moral philosophy; on the latter view, Kant did not consider non-white people as persons at all. However, both standard interpretations face significant textual difficulties; instead, I argue that Kant’s moral egalitarianism is so thin as to remain almost entirely useless as an antidote to racism. Consequently, we should neither regard Kant’s racism as a mere personal failure nor as a quaint 18th century belief in ‘sub-humans.’ Instead, I argue that Kant’s racism highlights a perennial philosophical difficulty: how do we get from abstract principles to substantive ideals in a way that doesn’t merely polish up our existing prejudices?
Download PDF‘Is the rule of recognition really a duty-imposing rule?’
2023, Journal of Legal Philosophy (open access)
According to a persistent assumption in legal philosophy, the social rule at the foundation of a legal system (the Rule of Recognition) serves both an epistemic and a duty-imposing function. Thus, some authors have claimed that it would be a formidable problem for legal philosophy to explain how such social rules can impose duties, and some have taken it upon themselves to show how social practices might just do that. However, I argue that this orthodox assumption about the dual function of rule of recognition is ill-founded. Contrary to the orthodox view, we have no good reasons to ascribe more than an epistemic function to the rule of recognition. Accordingly, the norms deriving immediately from the rule of recognition are no different than those entailed by other epistemic, grammatical or syntactic norms. Consequently, accounts of the normativity of law need not explain how social practices like conventions or plans might impose duties on the officials of a legal system.
Download PDF'Between Thinking and Acting: Fichte's Deduction of the Concept of Right'
2023, Manuscrito (open access)
Fichte’s ambitious project in the Foundations of Natural Right is to provide an a priori deduction of the concept of right independently from morality. So far, interpretations of Fichte’s deduction of the concept of right have persistently fallen into one of two rough categories: either they (re)interpret the normative necessity of right in terms of moral or quasi-moral normativity or they interpret right’s normative necessity in terms of hypothetical imperatives. However, each of these interpretations faces significant exegetical difficulties. By contrast, I argue that we can understand the normative necessity of right in terms of conceptual necessity. On this view, right does not tell us what ought to be done, but instead tells us what we are doing and have done. Not only does this provide for a promising philosophical account of the non-moral normativity of right, but also provides a compelling reading of Fichte’s text in both the deduction of the concept of right in the Foundations of Natural Right as well as his discussion of the application of the concept of right and coercion.
Download PDFTeaching
My primary teaching area is practical philosophy (both systematic and historical). Sample syllabi for courses in the selected teaching areas listed below are available on request.
'Ethics in a Time of Climate Crisis'
University of Chicago, 2025
'Human Being and Citizen'
University of Chicago, 2024
‘The Nature of Law’
University of Chicago, 2022
Kant (up to graduate level)
Philosophy of law (up to graduate level)
Post-Kantian German philosophy
Ethics (including environmental ethics)
Social and political philosophy
Curriculum Vitae
LAURENZ S. RAMSAUER
Curriculum Vitae (updated September 2024)
Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow
University of Chicago
PhD
University of Chicago
LLM
University of Cambridge
LLB
King's College London
Kant
Ethics
Philosophy of Law
Post-Kantian German philosophy
Social and political philosophy
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
‘Kant's Racism as a Philosophical Problem’
Pacific Philosophical Quarterly (open access)
Download PDF‘Is the rule of recognition really a duty-imposing rule?’
Journal of Legal Philosophy (open access)
Download PDF‘Between Thinking and Acting: Fichte’s Deduction of the Concept of Right’
Manuscrito (open access)
Download PDFGraduate Council Research Award
University of Chicago
Graduate Council Research Award
University of Chicago
St Edmunds College Prize
University of Cambridge
Dickson Poon School of Law Prize in Tort Law
King’s College London
Affiliated Doctoral Fellow
Franke Institute for the Humanities, University of Chicago
UC Mellon Dissertation Completion Fellow
Division of the Humanities, University of Chicago
Ernst Freund Fellow in Law and Philosophy
University of Chicago Law School
Visiting Doctoral Fellow
Forschungskolleg Analytic German Idealism, Universität Leipzig
Visiting Doctoral Fellow
Forschungskolleg Analytic German Idealism, Universität Leipzig
King’s Undergraduate Research Fellow
Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London
Jul.
'Kant's Dialectic of Enlightenment'
Annual Conference of the Israeli Philosophical Association, Haifa University
Nov.
‘Dehumanization as Conceptual Metaphor’
Franke Affiliated Fellows’ Meeting, University of Chicago
Nov.
‘The Emotional Labor of Enlightenment’
German Philosophy Workshop, University of Chicago
Oct.
‘The Efficacy Puzzle’
Practical Philosophy Workshop, University of Chicago
Sep.
‘Dehumanization and the Metaphorical Structuring of Social Experience’
X. Conference for Practical Philosophy, Universität Salzburg
Jun.
‘Kant’s Derivation of Imperatives of Duty’
Leuven Kant Conference, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Nov.
‘The Post-Colonial Critique of Kant’
German Philosophy Workshop, University of Chicago
Sep.
‘Kant’s Racism as a Philosophical Problem’
IX. Conference for Practical Philosophy, Universität Salzburg
Jul.
‘Kant’s Racism as a Philosophical Problem’
Munich Graduate Conference in Ethics, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München
May.
‘Kant on Reflection in Moral Knowledge’
Practical Philosophy Workshop, University of Chicago
May.
‘Kant’s Racism as a Philosophical Problem’
UCSD Modern Philosophy Graduate Workshop, University of California, San Diego
Oct.
‘Kant on the Purpose of Moral Philosophy’
German Philosophy Workshop, University of Chicago
Feb.
‘Is the Rule of Recognition really a duty-imposing rule?’
Symposium at the APA Central Division Meeting (online)
Jan.
‘Hegel’s Empty-Formalism Charge’
German Philosophy Workshop, University of Chicago
May.
‘Fichte’s Deduction of the Concept of Right’
German Philosophy Workshop, University of Chicago
Contact
LAURENZ S. RAMSAUER
Department of Philosophy
University of Chicago
Chicago, IL 60637
lramsauer@uchicago.edu