Annual Philosophy Lecture 2027: Autonomy, Personhood, and Women's Rights | Prof. Özlem Duva Kaya
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About the event:
Autonomy, Personhood, and Women’s Rights: Kantian Parallels in First-Wave Feminist Thought
The Annual Philosophy Lecture for 2027 to be delivered by Prof. Özlem Duva Kaya will examine the conceptual and normative relationship between Kant’s moral philosophy and the emergence of the first wave of feminist thought. Despite Kant's own historically situated and, in certain respects, explicitly gendered remarks about women, Prof. Özlem Duva Kaya will argue that the broader structure of Kant's practical philosophy contains conceptual possibilities that transcend these limitations.
Rather than treating these remarks as simply external to his system, the lecture will focus on the tension within Kant’s thought between his universal account of rational agency and his empirically conditioned assumptions about women. Rather than approaching this tension in reductive terms, the lecture treats it as analytically productive, opening a space in which Kant’s core concepts can be reconsidered within a broader normative framework. Within this framework, the concepts of autonomy, personhood and human dignity are closely connected to feminist concerns regarding women’s education, political participation and moral equality.
The main argument advanced is that the relationship between Kantian moral philosophy and first-wave feminist thought should not be understood in terms of direct influence or linear intellectual inheritance. Instead, they both emerge within a shared Enlightenment concern concerning the foundations of moral normativity, rational agency, and universal equality. In this context, important structural parallels emerge between Kant’s concept of equal moral worth and feminist critiques of exclusionary social and legal structures.
From this perspective, feminist theory does not simply reject Kant’s framework; it also interrogates its universalist principles, testing their consistency and broadening their scope. First-wave feminism thus contributes to the reconstruction of Kantian moral philosophy by making explicit the implications of its foundational concepts when applied consistently to women as rational, autonomous agents. This process brings the internal tensions and normative potential embedded in Kant’s account of moral personhood and equality into greater focus.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Özlem Duva Kaya is Professor of Philosophy at Dokuz Eylül University, specializing in Kant, Enlightenment philosophy, philosophical anthropology, ethics, political philosophy, and gender studies. She completed postdoctoral research at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and INALCO Paris, and has lectured and presented at leading international institutions, including the University of Bonn, Sapienza University of Rome, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. A founding member of the Turkey Kant Society, she serves as Managing Editor of the Kant Çalışmaları Journal and has published extensively on Kant, political philosophy, ethics, and gender studies.
Tickets are priced at € 6 for members; € 12 for non-members and € 8 for students/senior citizens 60+. Book now on provided link to our website!
Autonomy, Personhood, and Women’s Rights: Kantian Parallels in First-Wave Feminist Thought
The Annual Philosophy Lecture for 2027 to be delivered by Prof. Özlem Duva Kaya will examine the conceptual and normative relationship between Kant’s moral philosophy and the emergence of the first wave of feminist thought. Despite Kant's own historically situated and, in certain respects, explicitly gendered remarks about women, Prof. Özlem Duva Kaya will argue that the broader structure of Kant's practical philosophy contains conceptual possibilities that transcend these limitations.
Rather than treating these remarks as simply external to his system, the lecture will focus on the tension within Kant’s thought between his universal account of rational agency and his empirically conditioned assumptions about women. Rather than approaching this tension in reductive terms, the lecture treats it as analytically productive, opening a space in which Kant’s core concepts can be reconsidered within a broader normative framework. Within this framework, the concepts of autonomy, personhood and human dignity are closely connected to feminist concerns regarding women’s education, political participation and moral equality.
The main argument advanced is that the relationship between Kantian moral philosophy and first-wave feminist thought should not be understood in terms of direct influence or linear intellectual inheritance. Instead, they both emerge within a shared Enlightenment concern concerning the foundations of moral normativity, rational agency, and universal equality. In this context, important structural parallels emerge between Kant’s concept of equal moral worth and feminist critiques of exclusionary social and legal structures.
From this perspective, feminist theory does not simply reject Kant’s framework; it also interrogates its universalist principles, testing their consistency and broadening their scope. First-wave feminism thus contributes to the reconstruction of Kantian moral philosophy by making explicit the implications of its foundational concepts when applied consistently to women as rational, autonomous agents. This process brings the internal tensions and normative potential embedded in Kant’s account of moral personhood and equality into greater focus.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Özlem Duva Kaya is Professor of Philosophy at Dokuz Eylül University, specializing in Kant, Enlightenment philosophy, philosophical anthropology, ethics, political philosophy, and gender studies. She completed postdoctoral research at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and INALCO Paris, and has lectured and presented at leading international institutions, including the University of Bonn, Sapienza University of Rome, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. A founding member of the Turkey Kant Society, she serves as Managing Editor of the Kant Çalışmaları Journal and has published extensively on Kant, political philosophy, ethics, and gender studies.
Tickets are priced at € 6 for members; € 12 for non-members and € 8 for students/senior citizens 60+. Book now on provided link to our website!
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Where is it happening?
129 St. Paul's Street , VLT 1216 Valletta, Malta, 66 Saint Paul's, Triq San Pawl, Valletta, VLT, Malta
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Host or PublisherPhilosophy Sharing Malta
