The version of Kantian ethics that Robert Hanna develops in Kantian Ethics and Human Existence is “existential” in four senses of that term. First, it’s a specifically anthropocentric, humane version of Kantian ethics, that takes philosophical anthropology fully seriously for the purposes of ethical theory, and not as an inessential add-on or mere elaboration. Second, … [continue reading]

Grand Central Station, New York City (circa 1930) The essay below will be published in two installments; this is the first. You can also download and read or share a .pdf of the complete text of this essay, including the list of REFERENCES, by scrolling down to the bottom of this post and clicking on … [continue reading]

What is free will? What is practical agency? What is human personhood? And how are human free will, practical agency, and human personhood really possible in the natural world as it is correctly characterized by the modern natural sciences, especially physics, chemistry, biology, and cognitive neuroscience? Or more compactly put: given the truth of modern … [continue reading]

(Bulb, 2024) You can also download and read or share a .pdf of the complete text of this essay by scrolling down to the bottom of this post and clicking on the Download tab. Not All Animals are Equal If a being suffers, there can be no moral justification for refusing to take that suffering … [continue reading]

“Prüfung/Test,” by Edith Breckwoldt (Hamburg DE, 2004) (Author’s photograph, 2019) You can also download and read or share a .pdf of the complete text of this essay by scrolling down to the bottom of this post and clicking on the Download tab. The Problem of Evil and Radical Agnosticism What do you believe is the … [continue reading]

In Cognition, Content, and the A Priori, Robert Hanna works out and defend a five-stage contemporary Kantian theory of (i) intentionality and its contents, including nonconceptual content and conceptual content, (ii) sense perception and perceptual knowledge, including perceptual self-knowledge, (iii) the analytic-synthetic distinction,(iv) the nature of logic, and (v) a priori truth and knowledge in … [continue reading]

(ILDC, 2025) You can also download and read or share a .pdf of the complete text of this essay by scrolling down to the bottom of this post and clicking on the Download tab. Il Faut Cultiver Notre Jardin The history of [Candide’s] world-famous phrase, which serves as the book’s conclusion—il faut cultiver notre jardin—is … [continue reading]

Most contemporary philosophers (71.1%, according to a recent survey) believe that a priori knowledge is really possible. Indeed, since the late 1980s there has been a renewed and steadily growing interest in rationalism and the a priori; and gradually what George Bealer has dubbed a rationalist renaissance has emerged onto the contemporary philosophical scene. At … [continue reading]

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction 2. Gestures Towards the Subject of Design 3. Gestures as Agents of Change: Four Remarks 4. From Landscape to Handscape 5. Discussion: Mimetic Awareness and Meaning 6. Conclusion The essay that follows has been published in four installments; this installment, the fourth, contains sections 5 and 6, and also the … [continue reading]

In Embodied Minds in Action, Robert Hanna and Michelle Maiese work out a unified treatment of three fundamental philosophical problems: the mind-body problem, the problem of mental causation, and the problem of action. This unified treatment rests on two basic claims. The first is that conscious, intentional minds like ours are essentially embodied. This entails … [continue reading]