The Post-Kantian and Continental Philosophy Workshop (formally known as The Afterlife of Phenomenology) broadly considers philosophical thought after Kant, with special interest in phenomenology as a tool for revisiting the work of philosophers who pre-dated phenomenology. We are open to a broad understanding of 'Post-Kantian,' to include contemporary work in social and political problems, but we generally aim to invite speakers who work in the history of philosophy after Kant and/or who critically connect contemporary problems to the insights from this history.

Some recent examples of talks we have hosted include:

• Lydia Moland, “Hegel on Music: The Sound of Feeling” 2021
• Martin Shuster, “Genocide and the State: An Alternative History of Modern Political Philosophy” 2021
• Naomi Fisher, "On Plato's Influence on Schelling" 2023
• Eyo Ewara, “Strange Returns: Racism, Repetition, and Working Through the Past” 2025
• Andreea Smaranda Aldea, “Restoration, Reactivation, Reorientation: Husserl’s Method for a Historical Critique of the Present” 2025
• Taylor Rogers, “Atmospheric Attention: Towards Rearranging Ourselves and the World” 2025

This workshop is organized by graduate students. We invite scholars in their post-doctoral career, of all levels. Given a limited budget, we cannot pay speakers for the talk, but we offer a paid lunch (or dinner) with graduate students after the talk.

If you are a postdoctoral scholar interested in participating in this workshop series as a future speaker, or if you are a Northwestern philosophy graduate student interested in organizing one of the future workshops, please email Abigail Iturra at abigail.iturra@u.northwestern.edu

Featured Talk

Kurt C.M. Mertel, “The Emancipatory Project of Being and Time”

November 4, 2025

11am-1pm

German Seminar Room, Kresge 3-354

Please email Abigail at abigail.iturra@u.northwestern.edu if you would like an e-copy of Professor Mertel’s new book, and/or if you would like to join us for lunch after the talk.