Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 9, 2026

Karl Ameriks

Karl Peter Ameriks was an American philosopher. He was the Emeritus McMahon-Hank Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame.

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Jun 9, 2026
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Karl Ameriks
Born
Karl Peter Ameriks

November 5, 1947
DiedApril 28, 2025 (aged 77)
AwardsAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellowship
Education
EducationYale University (A.B. 1969; Ph.D., 1973)
ThesisCartesianism and Wittgenstein: The Legacy of Subjectivism in Contemporary Philosophy of Mind (1973)
Karsten Harries
Philosophical work
EraContemporary philosophy
RegionWestern philosophy
Kantianism
InstitutionsUniversity of Notre Dame
Doctoral students
Rachel Zuckert
Main interests
Philosophy of mind
Notable ideas
The importance of autonomy in post-Kantian philosophy

Karl Peter Ameriks (November 5, 1947 – April 28, 2025) was an American philosopher. He was the Emeritus McMahon-Hank Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame.

Life and career

Ameriks was born on November 5, 1947.1 He studied at Yale University (A.B. summa cum laude, 1969; Ph.D., 1973), where he wrote his doctoral thesis under the direction of Karsten Harries. He joined the faculty at Notre Dame in 1973, and taught there for more than forty years.

He was regarded as one of the foremost scholars of the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and has written widely in the history of late modern and Continental philosophy. Ameriks co-edited the series Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy. He organized influential conferences, including one on Kant (featuring Onora O’Neill) and one on German Idealism (featuring Manfred Frank).2

He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009.3

Karl Ameriks died on April 28, 2025, at the age of 77.4

Bibliography

Bibliography

  • Kant's Theory of Mind: An Analysis of the Paralogisms of Pure Reason (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982; expanded ed., 2000)
  • Kant and the Fate of Autonomy: Problems in the Appropriation of the Critical Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2000)
  • Interpreting Kant's Critiques (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2003)
  • Kant and the Historical Turn: Philosophy as Critical Interpretation (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2006)
  • Kant's Elliptical Path (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2012)
  • Kantian Subjects: Critical Philosophy and Late Modernity (Oxford, 2019)
  • Kantian Dignity and its Difficulties (Oxford, 2024)
See also

See also

References

References

  1. Watkins, Eric (2015). "Ameriks, Karl". In Audi, Robert (ed.). The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy (Third ed.). New York City: Cambridge University Press. pp. 31–32. ISBN 978-1-139-05750-9. OCLC 927145544.
  2. Watkins, Eric (June 26, 2025). "North American Kant Society — In Memoriam: Karl Ameriks (1947-2025)". northamericankantsociety.org. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
  3. "Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter A" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 5, 2011. Retrieved April 17, 2011.
  4. Karl Peter Ameriks Obituary In legacy.com
External links