Hans Lottenbach joined the Kenyon faculty in 2010. Before coming to Kenyon he taught philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh, Princeton University, and UCLA.
His current research interest is in the practical philosophy of German Idealism and its relation to modern metaphysics.
Areas of Expertise
Kant and German Idealism, history of modern philosophy, political philosophy.
Education
2010 — Doctor of Philosophy from University of Pittsburgh
Courses Recently Taught
PHIL 100
Introduction to Philosophy
PHIL 100
The primary aim of this course is to acquaint the student with the spirit, methods and problems of philosophy. Students will explore the range of issues in which philosophical inquiry is possible and to which it is relevant. Major works of important philosophers, both ancient and modern, will be used to introduce topics in metaphysics, theory of knowledge, ethics and other traditional areas of philosophical concern. No prerequisite. Offered every semester.
PHIL 200
Ancient Philosophy
PHIL 200
Ancient Greek philosophy is not only the basis of the Western and the Arabic philosophical traditions, it is central for understanding Western culture in general, including literature, science, religion, or values. In this course, we examine some of the seminal texts of Greek philosophy, focusing on the work of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. But we also examine the work of the pre-Socratics (such as Heraclitus, Zeno and Democritus) and the Sophists (such as Protagoras and Gorgias). PHIL 100 is recommended. This is required for the major. No prerequisite. Offered every year.
PHIL 208
Contemporary Political Philosophy
PHIL 208
This course is a study of major works in political philosophy since about 1950. Topics will include: the nature and legitimacy of modern political institutions; modern forms of power, oppression and alienation; and the often-conflicting demands of liberty, equality, rights and recognition. We will explore these topics through the writings of Oakeshott, Rawls, Nozick, Taylor, Geuss, Habermas and Foucault. This counts toward the ethics requirement for the major. No prerequisite. Offered every third year.
PHIL 210
Modern Philosophy
PHIL 210
This course examines 17th- through 18th-century philosophy. Major figures to be studied include Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume and Kant. We will stress metaphysical and epistemological issues throughout. It wouldn't be unfair to say that Descartes sets the agenda by creating a certain conception of the mind and the nature of knowledge, while each of the subsequent figures works out various implications of that conception. As such, the course content takes something of a narrative form, where we start with a certain optimism about knowledge and work our way into a deepening skepticism, only to be rescued at the end (by a rescuer whose price may not be worth paying). PHIL 200 is recommended but any previous philosophy course is acceptable. This course is required for the major. No prerequisite. Offered every year.
PHIL 214
German Idealism
PHIL 214
In this course we will study the major philosophers of post-Kantian German Idealism: Schiller, Hölderlin, Jacobi, Fichte, Schelling and Hegel. Our emphasis will be on Fichte and Hegel. Questions addressed will include the following: In what way are the philosophical systems of the German Idealists systems of freedom? How do the theories of freedom developed by the German Idealists relate to their accounts of the mind? How do the German Idealists understand the development or the history of the mind (both in the individual and in human kind)? What is the idealism in German Idealism? This counts toward the philosophical schools and periods requirement for the major. PHIL 210 recommended. No prerequisite. Offered every other year.
PHIL 215
Nineteenth-Century Philosophy
PHIL 215
This course traces the development of philosophy from Hegel to Nietzsche. The philosophers we will discuss ask the following main questions: given Kant's critique of metaphysics, can we still aspire to knowledge of the Absolute, and if so, by what method? What is the relation between appearance and reality (the thing in itself)? How does philosophy relate to religion and art? In the study of philosophy, to what extend do we have to take into account the history of philosophy? The readings will be from Hegel's "Phenomenology of Spirit" and his "Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion," Feuerbach's "Essence of Christianity," Schopenhauer's " World as Will and Representation," and Nietzsche's "Birth of Tragedy" and "Genealogy of Morals." PHIL 200 or 210 recommended. This counts toward the philosophical schools and periods requirement for the major. No prerequisite.
PHIL 270
Political Philosophy
PHIL 270
In this course we will study the history of political philosophy (with a focus on the period from about 1600 to about 1850). The course will address the following questions: What is the origin of civil society and government? What role does consent play in establishing government? Are there any natural rights, or do rights depend on the conventions of civil society? Does the civil law depend on the natural law? What is the relation between the constraints of law and liberty? Are there economic preconditions for liberty? Our readings will be mostly from Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hume, Kant, Hegel and Marx. This counts toward the ethics requirement for the major. No prerequisite. Offered every other year.
PHIL 345
Kant's Theoretical Philosophy
PHIL 345
In this course, we will study Kant's major work in theoretical philosophy, the "Critique of Pure Reason." We shall examine how Kant establishes that our empirical knowledge has conditions (a priori intuitions and a priori concepts) which cannot be derived from experience, and that these conditions of our empirical knowledge are also the conditions of our having any experience at all. We will pay particular attention to the way in which the "Critique of Pure Reason" revolutionizes the reflection on knowledge found in the work of Kant's rationalist, empiricist and skeptical predecessors. PHIL 210 is recommended. This counts toward the great thinkers requirement for the major. No prerequisite. Offered every other year.
PHIL 348
Kant's Practical Philosophy
PHIL 348
This course is a comprehensive study of Kant's practical philosophy. For Kant the subject matter of practical philosophy is freedom. Kant asks: Under what conditions can we be free? We will examine Kant's claims that freedom is realized in morality and in law-governed political society, and that freedom must be autonomy. We shall also pay attention to Kant's accounts of moral religion and of human history as the development of freedom. The readings will be from the "Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals," the "Critique of Practical Reason," the "Metaphysics of Morals," the "Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone," the essays on history and the lectures on pedagogy. This counts toward the great thinkers requirement for the major. No prerequisite. Offered every other year.
Academic & Scholarly Achievements
2009
"Lazy Lethargy and Fullness of Joy: Locke on Desire and Happiness," Locke Studies, Vol. 9 (2009), 97-122.
1996
"Subjectivism, Utility, and Autonomy," Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 77 (1996), 19-35.
1996
"Monkish Virtues, Artificial Lives: On Hume's Genealogy of Morals," Canadian Journal of Philosophy 26 (1996), 367-388.
1995
"Hegel's Critique of Kant in the Philosophy of Right," Kant-Studien 86 (1995), 211-230 (with Sergio Tenenbaum).
1994
"Expected Utility and Constrained Maximization: Problems of Compatibility," Erkenntnis 41 (1994), 37-48.