Michel Seymour

Reason and Emancipation. Essays on the philosophy of Kai Nielsen

Dr. Nielsen, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Calgary and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at Concordia University, is one of Canada’s most eminent philosophers. He is among the most important figures worldwide in the areas of moral and political philosophy. He has published more than twenty books and more than four hundred articles. His books have been translated into Chinese, Polish, Spanish and Greek. Symposias have been devoted to his books in congresses such as the Canadian Philosophical Association, the Western Canadian Philosophical Association and the American Philosophical Association (Central and Pacific Divisions). He has published articles in virtually all the major philosophical journals, including The Journal of Philosophy, The Philosophical Quarterly, Philosophical Studies, Philosophy and Public Affairs, Ethics, The Monist, Mind, Inquiry, Theoria, Dialectica and Erkenntnis (many of his articles have been anthologized and translated into several languages). Professor Nielsen is a member of the Royal Society of Canada and a past president of the Canadian Philosophical Association. He is also one of the founding members of the most important philosophical journal in Canada, the Canadian Journal of Philosophy. The famous British philosopher Anthony Kenny (who is one of the contributors) recently wrote in a London Review of Books review of Professor Nielsen’s latest book, that Kai Nielsen is a “genial solitude”. We believe that it is about time that we remove him from this solitude and to publicly recognize the magnitude of his intellectual contribution by publishing this collection of essays followed by replies from Professor Kai Nielsen.