Julian Wuerth
Ph.D., 2000, University of Pennsylvania

wuerthj@ucmail.uc.edu

Department of Philosophy
University of Cincinnati
P. O. Box 210374
Cincinnati, OH 45221-0374

Areas of Specialization

Wuerth works primarily on Kant's philosophy, but also in the history of modern philosophy, the history of ethics, and contemporary ethics.  In his book manuscript currently under review, Kant’s Early Philosophy of Mind, Wuerth presents an interpretation of Kant's account of the self as presented in all of Kant's recorded thought from before his 1781 Critique of Pure Reason, including the notes on Kant’s lectures on anthropology published for the first time in any language in 1997.  As the author of a "Copernican revolution" in philosophy, Kant grounds his philosophy in this account of the self, making it the natural starting point for inquiry into his theoretical and practical philosophy, as well as his aesthetics.  Here Wuerth is especially interested in Kant's theory of action as shaped by his account of the self and in applying a new understanding of this theory of action to the study of Kant's ethics.  Wuerth has begun work on a second book on this topic, covering Kant’s account of the self as presented in all of his recorded thought from the second half of his career, from the 1781 Critique to 1804.   Wuerth is also co-editing an anthology, Essays on Virtue Ethics and Kantian Ethics, with his colleague, Larry Jost.  The collection includes new essays on Kantian ethics, virtue ethics, and their relation to one another, by Marcia Baron, Talbot Brewer, Lara Denis, Paul Guyer, Otfried Hoeffe, Rosalind Hursthouse, Anselm Mueller, Nancy Sherman, Michael Slote, Christine Swanton, and Allen Wood.

Wuerth recently published an essay, “Kant’s Immediatism, Pre-Critique,” in the Journal of the History of Philosophy, 44 (2006): 489-532, and has an essay, “The Paralogisms of Pure Reason,” forthcoming in The Cambridge Companion to Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.  He has presented papers at the Pacific APA, the Central APA, the Midwest Meeting of the NAKS, the Annual Northwest Conference on Philosophy, and the University of Santa Catarina, Brazil.  He was a Charles P. Taft Research Fellow during 2005-2006 and will be a Charles P. Taft Research Fellow during the summer of 2007 and a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Fellow during the fall of 2007.  Wuerth is also directing the creation of an M.A. program in ethics, which will pool resources from the UC Philosophy Department, the UC Law School, and Hebrew Union College.

Publications

“Kant’s Immediatism, Pre-Critique,” Journal of the History of Philosophy, 44 (2006): 489-532.

“The Paralogisms of Pure Reason,” forthcoming in Paul Guyer, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Kant’s “Critique of Pure Reason” (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).  

“Jacob Sigismund Beck,” forthcoming in Heiner F. Klemme and Manfred Kuehn, eds., The Dictionary of Eighteenth-Century German Philosophers (Bristol: Thoemmes Continuum).

Kant’s Early Philosophy of Mind.  Under review.

Work in Progress

Kant’s Philosophy of Mind, Critique and Beyond.  This book picks up from where Kant’s Early Philosophy of Mind leaves off, analyzing Kant’s philosophy of mind and theory of action as presented by Kant in the Critique and his other recorded thought from 1781 to 1804. 

Essays on Kantian Ethics and Virtue Ethics, Larry Jost and Julian Wuerth, eds.  This volume contains new essays on Kantian ethics and virtue ethics by Marcia Baron, Talbot Brewer, Lara Denis, Paul Guyer, Otfried Hoeffe, Rosalind Hursthouse, Anselm Mueller, Nancy Sherman, Michael Slote, Christine Swanton, and Allen Wood.   

“Kant’s Theory of Action: The Embodied Self, Reflective Distance, and the Coherence of Immoral Actions.”  This essay offers a new interpretation of Kant’s theory of action and the foundation of normativity in Kant’s ethics.  It opposes the influential readings of Kant ‘s account of the relationship of the faculty of pure practical reason to that of choice presented by Sidgwick and Korsgaard.