People

Members

Pauline Kleingeld
Project leader

My academic interests are in Kant and Kantian philosophy, and more broadly in ethics, political philosophy, and moral psychology. I’ve published two monographs: Kant and Cosmopolitanism: The Philosophical Ideal of World Citizenship (Cambridge UP, 2012) and a book on Kant’s philosophy of history: Fortschritt und Vernunft: Zur Geschichtsphilosophie Kants (Königshausen und Neumann, 1995).
More recently, I have been working on foundational issues in Kant’s moral theory, such as the different formulations of the Categorical Imperative, the notion of autonomy, and the idea of freedom. A recurring theme is the importance of Kant’s republicanism, not just for understanding his legal and political philosophy, but also for understanding the foundations of his moral theory.

Leon van Rijsbergen
PhD candidate

Leon is writing his dissertation on whether Kantian ethics can provide a foundation for a shared morality in a way that sufficiently takes into account the fact of cultural- and possibly agential diversity. Some central questions in his research pertain to the universality of the 'Kantian' agent, the tenability of perfect duties in light of 'the problem of relevant descriptions', and the context-sensitivity of Kantian moral universalism. Leon is primarily interested in matters concerning normative ethics, metaethics and moral psychology. He graduated cum laude from Utrecht University's Research Master: Philosophy.

Fiorella Tomassini
Postdoctoral researcher

Fiorella's research activity has been centered on Kant's theory of right and its relationship with the German natural law tradition of the 18th century. She is also interested in Kant's reception of Rousseau's theory of social contract, the notion of the general will within his moral and political philosophy, and his theory of property.
Fiorella received her PHD from the University of Buenos Aires (2018). Before joining the University of Groningen in October 2020, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Buenos Aires and held a visiting position at the Martin-Luther University of Halle (September 2018- August 2019), supported by a DAAD fellowship and the Marie-Curie Rise project "Kant in South America".

Luke Davies
Postdoctoral researcher

Luke’s research focuses on Kant’s and Kantian normative ethics and political philosophy, particularly relating to theories of rights, duties to self, and consent. Prior to starting at Groningen he was a postdoctoral Fellow at LSE (in government) and a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at Oxford (in philosophy). His PhD is from Oxford, and his thesis was a monograph on Kant’s account of citizenship.

Vinicius Carvalho
Postdoctoral researcher

Vinicius’ research interests are in ethics and political philosophy. In his postdoc, Vini will explore the relation between republican political theory and Kant's political philosophy. Vinicius completed his PhD in Philosophy at the University of Groningen in 2026. Before that, he received his MA and BA at the University of Campinas. For more information, check out Vini's website: https://viniciuscarvalho-philosophy.weebly.com/

Tijn Smits
PhD candidate

Tijn Smits is a PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam, writing his dissertation on Kant's moral epistemology. There, he aims to define the nature and conditions of 'practical cognition' in relation to notions such as belief, knowledge, and science, as well as their theoretical counterparts. This will give us a better understanding of what it means, on Kant's account, to assent to a moral judgment and how such a judgment compares to a descriptive one. In addition to this historical project, he is particularly interested in systematic questions in climate ethics and the ethics of belief. For more information, check out Tijn's website.

Martina Favaretto
Postdoctoral researcher

Martina’s research interests lie in ethics (especially normative ethics and moral psychology) and history of ethics (especially Kant’s ethics). She is primarily interested in questions pertaining to what it is to act rationally and how emotions influence our capacity to act rationally. Within the context of Kant’s ethics, she is currently working on the relation that takes there to be between emotions and value, and its relevance for Kant’s account of both moral worth and virtue. Before coming to Groningen, from 2023-2025 Martina was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of
Toronto's Centre for Ethics. In 2023, she completed her PhD in Philosophy at Indiana University, Bloomington. Before that, Martina received her MA and BA in Philosophy at the University of Pavia, Italy. For more information, visit her personal website.