Department of Philosophy
315P Louise Pound Hall
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Lincoln, NE 68588-0321

Colin McLear

Areas of Specialization:

  • German Idealism (especially Kant), History of Modern Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
  • Areas of Competence:

  • Aesthetics, Epistemology, Ethics, Political Theory
  • Appointments

  • 2018–present: University of Nebraska–Lincoln | Associate Professor | Lincoln, NE
  • 2013–2018: University of Nebraska–Lincoln | Assistant Professor | Lincoln, NE
  • 2017: Oxford University | Visiting Fellow (Trinity Term), Trinity College | Oxford, UK
  • 2012–13: Cornell University | The Philosophical Review Visiting Lecturer | Ithaca, NY
  • Education

  • 2013: Ph.D, Philosophy | Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
  • 2011-12: DAAD, Visiting Scholar | Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, DE
  • 2010-11: Visiting Student | Heidelberg Universität, Heidelberg, DE
  • 2000: BA, Philosopy and Music | Kenyon College, Gambier, OH
  • Publications

    Books

  • 2024: Kant’s Order of Reason. Oxford: Oxford University Press
  • 2024: Kant’s Fundamental Assumptions. Co-edited with Colin Marshall. Oxford: Oxford University Press
  • Articles

  • 2022: "Rationality: What Difference Does it Make?." Philosophy and Phenomenological Research : 10.1111/phpr.12905
  • 2020: "‘I Am the Original of All Objects’ – Apperception and the Substantial Subject." Philosophers’ Imprint 20(26): 1–38
  • 2020: "Kantian Conceptualism/Nonconceptualism." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • 2020: "On the Transcendental Freedom of the Intellect." Ergo 7(2): 35–104
  • 2018: "Motion and the Affection Argument." Synthese 195(11): 4979-4995
  • 2016: "Kant on Perceptual Content." Mind 125(497): 95–144
  • 2015: "Kant: Philosophy of Mind." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • 2015: "Two Kinds of Unity in the Critique of Pure Reason." Journal of the History of Philosophy 53(1): 79–110
  • 2014: "The Kantian (Non)-Conceptualism Debate." Philosophy Compass 9(11): 769–90
  • 2011: "Kant on Animal Consciousness." Philosophers’ Imprint 11(15): 1–16
  • Book Chapters

  • Forthcoming: "Functional Unity in German Idealism & The Contemporary Model of Mind." In James Conant, Jonas Held (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of German Idealism and Analytic Philosophy. London: Palgrave Macmillan
  • Forthcoming: "Letting the Dead Speak: On Sellars’ Kant." In Luz Christopher Seiberth, Mahdi Ranaee (eds.), Reading Kant with Sellars. New York: Routledge
  • Forthcoming: "The Unity of Nature and Freedom." In Anil Gomes, Andrew Stephenson (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Kant. Oxford: Oxford University Press
  • 2024: "Kant on Time and Receptivity." In Colin McLear, Colin Marshall (eds.), Kant’s Fundamental Assumptions. Oxford: Oxford University Press
  • 2023: "Kant on Transcendental Freedom, Priority Monism, & the Structure of Intuition." In Dai Heide, Evan Tiffany (eds.), The Idea of Freedom: New Essays on the Kantian Theory of Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press (co-authored with Derk Pereboom)
  • 2020: "Animals and Objectivity." In Lucy Allais, John Callanan (eds.), Kant on Animals. Oxford: Oxford University Press
  • 2017: "Intuition and Presence." In Anil Gomes, Andrew Stephenson (eds.), Kant and the Philosophy of Mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press
  • 2016: "Getting Acquainted with Kant." In Dennis Schulting (ed.), Kantian Nonconceptualism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan
  • Criticism

  • 2019: "Kant and the Demands of Reflection: Merrit’s on Kant on Reflection and Virtue." SGIR Review 2(1): 42-59
  • 2019: "The Mind’s ‘I’: On Béatrice Longuenesse’s, I, Me, Mine: Back to Kant, and Back Again." European Journal of Philosophy 27(1): 255–265
  • 2018: "Waxman on Intuition and Apperception." Critique, Author meets critics session
  • 2016: "Acquaintance and Cognition: Comments on Lucy Allais, Manifest Reality." Critique, Author meets critics session
  • 2014: "Comments on Stefanie Grüne, Blinde Anschauung." Critique, Author meets critics session
  • 2010: "Three Skeptics and the Critique: Critical Notice of Michael Forster’s Kant and Skepticism." Philosophical Books 51: 228-244 (co-authored with Andrew Chignell)
  • Reviews

  • forthcoming: "Review of Markus Kohl, Kant on Freedom & Rational Agency." The Philosophical Review
  • 2022: "Review of Henry Allison, Kant’s Conception of Freedom." Kantian Review 27(1): 159-65 (co-authored with Yoon Choi)
  • 2021/22: "Review of Mathias Birrer, Kant und die Heterogenität der Erkenntnisquellen." Studi Kantiani 34:221-25
  • 2020: "Review of Christine Korsgaard, Fellow Creatures." European Journal of Philosophy 28(1): 258-262
  • 2018: "Review of Nicholas Stang, Kant’s Modal Metaphysics." The Philosophical Review 127(4): 523-528
  • 2017: "Review of Henry Allison, Kant’s Transcendental Deduction." European Journal of Philosophy 25(2): 546–554
  • 2016: "Review of Robert Brandom, From Empiricism to Expressivism." Ethics 126(3): 808-816
  • 2015: "Review of Lanier Anderson, The Poverty of Conceptual Truth." Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
  • Presentations

    Invited

  • 2023: "Kant and Contemporary Models of the Mind." Beijing Normal University. December
  • 2022: "Kant on Control & Rationality." Keynote speaker, Graduate Conference on Freedom, Action, and Control: Conceptions of Rational Agency in Kant and the European Enlightenment; University of Bucharest (online). June
  • 2022: "Reason’s Order: Kant on the Conditions of Rational Agency." Book workshop, University of Toronto. May
  • 2021: "Self-Consciousness & Rationality." Kantian Rationality Lab, Kaliningrad; Colloquium, Department of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin–Madison; Conference on Kant on the Self, Princeton University. May, October
  • 2021: "Kant on the Receptivity of Time." Kant’s Fundamental Assumptions, online workshop. August
  • 2019: "Rationality: What Difference Does It Make?." Boston Area Kant Colloquium, Boston MA. December
  • 2019: "Self-Consciousness and the Freedom of Thought." Chinese Kant Society, Peking University, Beijing, China. June
  • 2019: "Comments on Abaci, ‘Kant’s Amodalism about Noumena and Freedom’." Pacific division of the American Philosophical Association, Vancouver CA. April
  • 2019: "Comments on Melissa Merritt, Kant on Reflection and Virtue." Central division of the American Philosophical Association, Denver CO. February
  • 2018: "On the Transcendental Freedom of the Intellect." Colloquium, University of Nebraska–Omaha. November
  • 2018: "Comments on McSweeney, ‘Abstract Amodal Perception’." Kant and Analytic Metaphysics Conference, University of Toronto. April
  • 2018: "Self-Consciousness, Spontaneity, and the Freedom of Thought." Pacific division of the American Philosophical Association, San Diego CA. March
  • 2018: "Comments on Nunez, ‘Kant’s Pure General Logic’." Central division of the American Philosophical Association, Chicago IL. February
  • 2018: "Animals & Objectivity." Harvard University. January
  • 2017: "I am the Original of All Objects: Kant on Apperception & the Substantial Subject." University of Toronto; UNC–Chapel Hill; Post-Kantian Seminar, Oxford. February, May
  • 2017: "The Conceptualism Debate." Guest lecture, Graduate Seminar on Kant. The Ohio State University. March
  • 2016: "Concept, Intuition, & Structure." Brown University History of Philosophy Roundtable. October
  • 2016: "Apperception & the Substantial Subject." Philosophy Colloquium, Rhode Island College. September
  • 2016: "Self-Knowledge & Knowledge of Nature." Colloquium for Classical German Philosophy, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. July
  • 2016: "Concepts & Abilities." Symposium on Kant on Concepts. Pacific division of the American Philosophical Association. April
  • 2015: "Animals & Objectivity." Colloquium for Classical German Philosophy, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. December
  • 2015: "Comments on Stefanie Grüne’s “Kant on the Object-Dependence of Intuition”." Workshop on Kant and the Mind, University of Oxford. January
  • 2014: "Definition & Essence in the Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science." Annual Meeting of the UK Kant Society, University of Oxford. August
  • 2013: "The Role of the Understanding in Kant’s Philosophy of Nature." Contemporary Kantian Philosophy Workshop, University of Luxembourg. October
  • 2013: "Animals & Objectivity." Kant on Animals Conference, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. July
  • 2013: "Kant on the Representation of an Object." University of Michigan; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Illinois State University. January–February
  • 2012: "Comments on Desmond Hogan’s ‘Handedness, Idealism, and Freedom’." Workshop on Force, Upstate New York Workshop in Early Modern Philosophy. December
  • 2012: "Comments on Andrew Specht’s ‘Rethinking the Neglected Alternative’." Meeting of the Creighton Club: New York Philosophical Association, Hobart & William Smith Colleges. November
  • 2012: "Comments on Lawrence Pasternack’s ‘Kant on Opinion’." 1st Biannual Meeting of the North American Kant Society. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. June
  • 2010: "Comments on Adam Pautz’s ‘Why Consciousness Cannot Just be in the Head: A New Argument against Biological Theories’." Cornell University. March
  • Refereed

  • 2020: "On Pure Intuition and Actuality." Central division of the American Philosophical Association, Chicago IL. February
  • 2018: "Kant on Reflection." 4th Biennial Meeting of the North American Kant Society. Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC. May
  • 2017: "Definition & Essence in the Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science." Midwest Study Group of the North American Kant Society, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. October
  • 2017: "Iconicity & Representational Structure." Pacific division of the American Philosophical Association, Seattle, WA. April
  • 2016: "Kant on the Parity of Inner & Outer Sense." Midwest Study Group of the North American Kant Society at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. October
  • 2015: "Definition & Essence in the Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science." Pacific division of the American Philosophical Association, Vancouver, BC. April
  • 2014: "Intuition & Presence." Midwest Study Group of the North American Kant Society, Washington University in St. Louis. October
  • 2014: "Priority Monism, Intuition, and Freedom." Conference on Kantian Freedom at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC. October
  • 2014: "Kant on Intuition and Hallucination." Pacific division of the American Philosophical Association, San Diego. April
  • 2013: "Kant and McDowell on Perceptual Givenness." Central division of the American Philosophical Association, New Orleans. February
  • 2012: "Intellectualism and the Transcendental Deduction." Eastern division of the American Philosophical Association, Atlanta. December
  • 2012: "Two Kinds of Unity in Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason." Eastern Meeting of the North American Kant Society, Princeton University. April
  • 2012: "Kant and McDowell on Perceptual Givenness." Workshop on the Epistemology of Perception, Birkbeck University. March
  • 2011: "Kant and Perceptual Content: A Plea for Austere Relationalism." Conceptual Content: History and Prospects, Cambridge University. September
  • 2011: "Kantian Aesthetics and the Problem of Sensory Communicability." Sinn und Sinnlichkeit: Uses and Abuses of Aesthetics Today, Cornell University. February
  • 2010: "Descartes on Cognizing Material Particulars." Upstate New York Early Modern Philosophy Workshop, Syracuse University. March
  • 2008: "Descartes on Sensation: The Syntactic-Causation Model." 4th Biennial Margaret Dauler Wilson Conference, Cornell University. June
  • 2008: "Identity and Transcendental Idealism (Graduate Prize Essay)." East division of the North American Kant Society, City University of New York. April
  • Teaching

    2013–present: University of Nebraska–Lincoln

  • phil 971 - Graduate Seminar on Topics in Kant (biennially)
  • phil 880 - Classical German Idealism (triennially)
  • phil 871 - Graduate Survey of Kant’s Critical Philosophy (biennially)
  • phil 232 - History of Modern Philosophy (annually)
  • phil 105 - The Philosophy of Food (biannually)
  • phil 101 - Introduction to Philosophy
  • 2017 (spring): Oxford University

  • Topics in Kant (with Anil Gomes, Trinity Term)
  • 2012–13: Cornell University

  • writing seminar - Politics and Human Nature
  • writing seminar - Technology and Society
  • phil 101 - Introduction to Philosophy
  • Service

  • UNL: Placement Director (2015-present); Director of Transfer Credit (2017-19); Committee on Graduate Teaching (2018-present); History Area Committee (2013-present); Speakers Committee (2013-present); UNL Graduate Fellowship Committee (2013-19); the College of Arts and Sciences Research Advisory Committee (2020-present)
  • Referee Work: Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie (multiple times), Australasian Journal of Philosophy (multiple times), British Journal for the History of Philosophy (multiple times), Cambridge University Press, Canadian Journal of Philosophy (multiple times), Dialogue (multiple times), De Gryter, Ergo (multiple times), Erkenntnis, European Journal of Philosophy (multiple times), Idealistic Studies, History of Philosophy Quarterly (multiple times), HOPOS, Journal of the History of Philosophy (multiple times), Journal of Modern Philosophy (multiple times), Journal of Philosophical Research, Kantian Review (multiple times), Kant Studies Online, Mind (multiple times), Minds & Machines, Oxford University Press (multiple times), Pacific Philosophical Quarterly (multiple times), Philosophical Quarterly (multiple times), Philosophers’ Imprint (multiple times), Philosophical Papers, Philosophy & Phenomenological Research (multiple times), Res Philosophica (multiple times), Social Theory & Practice, South African Journal of Philosophy, Southern Journal of Philosophy, SSHRC of Canada, Studi Kantiani (multiple times), Synthese (multiple times), The Philosophical Review (multiple times), The Philosophical Quarterly (multiple times)
  • Ongoing: Area editor (Kant/Post-Kantian Philosophy), Ergo
  • Ongoing: Philpapers.org Subject-area Editor: Kant’s Works, Kant Phil Mind
  • 2020: Fifth Biennial NAKS Conference Peer Review Committee
  • 2016: Third Biennial NAKS Conference Peer Review Committee
  • 2015-16: Program Committee member, Central Division APA
  • 2015: Organizer, Chambers Conference, “Kant on Introspection, Self-Consciousness, and Self-Knowledge.” University of Nebraska–Lincoln, May
  • 2013: Co-organizer, Second NAKS Biennial Meeting. Cornell University, June
  • Languages

  • German (reading and speaking)
  • Latin (basic reading)
  • Awards

  • 2016-17: CAS International Research Collaboration Grant, University of Nebraska–Lincoln
  • 2016: ENHANCE CAS Award, University of Nebraska–Lincoln
  • 2015: International Travel Grant, University of Nebraska–Lincoln
  • 2012-13: Philosophical Review Lectureship
  • 2011-12: DAAD Research Grant
  • 2010-11: Heidelberg Exchange Fellowship