Professor Robert Stern

MA, PhD (Cambridge)

School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities

Emeritus Professor of Philosophy

r.stern@sheffield.ac.uk

45 Victoria Street

Full contact details

Professor Robert Stern
School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities
45 Victoria Street
Sheffield
S3 7QB

Profile: Robert Stern came to Sheffield in 1989, having been a graduate and Research Fellow at St John's College, Cambridge. He has been a Professor since 2000, and was Head of Department from 2004 to 2008. He was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy in 2019.

Research interests

His main interests in the history of philosophy are in nineteenth century post-Kantian German philosophy, especially Hegel. His interests in contemporary philosophy are in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics and political philosophy. He is currently working on the Danish philosopher and theologian K. E. Løgstrup, and also on the work of Martin Luther viewed from a philosophical perspective.

His first book was Hegel, Kant and the Structure of the Object (1990), and he has compiled and written introductions for a four-volume collection of articles offering a critical assessment of Hegel's philosophy. He has also written a commentary on Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (2002), and a collection of his papers under the title Hegelian Metaphysics was published in 2009.

On contemporary philosophy, he has has published a book on the metaphysical and epistemological issues raised by transcendental arguments as used from Kant onwards (Transcendental Arguments and Scepticism, 2000). He has also edited a collection on this topic. He has published papers dealing with the work of McDowell, Rawls, Parfit, and MacIntyre, and retains an interest in questions relating to political philosophy, ethics and the philosophy of history.

Bob was awarded a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship for 2008-10. His research was on 'Autonomy, Self-Legislation and Moral Realism', and has led to a recent book with Cambridge University Press, entitled Understanding Moral Obligation: Kant, Hegel, Kierkegaard. The book considers whether there is a coherent argument from autonomy to some form of antirealism or constructivism in ethics: if we are autonomous agents, does it follow that moral realism should be rejected?

Bob aims to establish that this argument from autonomy to anti-realism is mistaken, and shows (particularly by reference to Kant, Hegel and Kierkegaard) that its uncritical adoption has also distorted our understanding of the history of ethics. A collection of papers relating to this theme has recently been published by Oxford University Press, under the title Kantian Ethics: Value, Agency, and Obligation.

Most recently, Bob was awarded an AHRC Fellowship for 2015-17, for a project on 'The Ethical Demand: Løgstrup's Ethics and Its Implications', to work on the ethics of the Danish philosopher and theologian K. E. Løgstrup. He has just published a monograph on this topic, entitled The Radical Demand in Løgstrup's Ethics. Further information on this project can be found here.

Current Projects

The ethics of K. E. Løgstrup
Martin Luther
The connection between idealism and pragmatism

Publications

Books

Stern R (2019) The Radical Demand in Løgstrup's Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Stern R (2015) Kantian Ethics: Value, Agency, and Obligation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Stern R (2013) Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Hegel and the Phenomenology of Spirit, 2nd edn. Routledge.
Stern R (2011) Understanding Moral Obligation: Kant, Hegel, Kierkegaard. Cambridge University Press.
Stern R (2009) Hegelian Metaphysics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Stern R (2002) Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Hegel and the Phenomenology of Spirit, 1st edn. London: Routledge.
Stern R (2000) Transcendental Arguments and Scepticism: Answering the Question of Justification. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Stern R (1990) Hegel, Kant and the Structure of the Object. London: Routledge.

Edited books

Fink H & Stern R (Ed.) (2017) What Is Ethically Demanded?: K. E. Løgstrup's Philosophy of Moral Life. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
Cohen A & Stern R (Ed.) (2017) Thinking about the Emotions: A Philosophical History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Brune JP, Stern R & Werner MH (Eds.) (2017) Transcendental Arguments in Moral Theory. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Stern R & Gava G (Ed.) (2015) Pragmatism, Kant, and Transcendental Philosophy. Routledge.
Stern R (Ed.) (2015) Idealism and Pragmatism: Traditions in Dialogue. Routledge.
Stern R (Ed.) (1999) Transcendental Arguments: Problems and Prospects. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Stern R (Ed.) (1993) G. W. F. Hegel: Critical Assessments. London: Routledge.

Journal articles

Stern R (2023) Understanding Hegel's logic: on Houlgate's Hegel on being. European Journal of Philosophy.
Stern R (2023) Michael Inwood (1944–2021). Hegel Bulletin, 44(1), 1-4.
Stern R (2022) I—The Presidential Address : 'How is human freedom compatible with the authority of the good?' Murdoch on moral agency, freedom, and imagination. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 122(1), 1-26. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2021) Is Hegelian Recognition Second-Personal? Hegel Says “No”. European Journal of Philosophy. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2020) Vulnerability, Trust, and Overdemandingness: Reflections from Løgstrup. International Journal of Philosophical Studies, 28(5), 1-20. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2020) How Is Love of the Neighbour Possible? A Løgstrupian Response to a Lutheran Critique of Levinas—and Vice Versa. The Monist, 103(1), 83-101. View this article in WRRO
Stern R & Watts D (2019) Valuing Humanity: Kierkegaardian Worries About Korsgaardian Transcendental Arguments. International Journal of Philosophy and Theology, 80(4-5), 424-442. View this article in WRRO
Rabjerg B & Stern R (2019) On Knud E. Løgstrup’s “Humanism and Christianity”. Journal for the History of Modern Theology / Zeitschrift für Neuere Theologiegeschichte, 26(1), 97-107. View this article in WRRO
Stern R, Bennett C & Faulkner P (2019) Indirect Communication, Authority, and Proclamation as a Normative Power: Løgstrup's Critique of Kierkegaard. Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal, 40(1), 147-182. View this article in WRRO
Rabjerg B & Stern R (2018) Freedom from the Self: Luther and Løgstrup on Sin as “Incurvatus in Se”. Open Theology, 4(1), 268-280. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2016) Why Hegel Now (Again) – and in What Form?. Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement, 78, 187-210. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2016) "Determination is Negation": The Adventures of a Doctrine from Spinoza to Hegel to the British Idealists. Hegel Bulletin, 37, 29-52. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2016) Zu Bernard Bosanquets „Die Realität des Gemeinwillens“. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie, 64(6), 990-994.
Stern R (2015) Hegelianism vs Spinozism? A. W. Moore on Hegel. Philosophical Topics, 43. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2014) Divine Commands and Secular Demands: On Darwall on Anscombe on 'Modern Moral Philosophy'. Mind, 123(492), 1095-1122. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2014) On Bernard Bosanquet’s “The Reality of the General Will”. Ethics, 125(1), 192-195. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2014) Darwall on Second-Personal Ethics. European Journal of Philosophy, 22(2), 321-333. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2013) Taylor, Transcendental Arguments, and Hegel on Consciousness. Hegel Bulletin, 34, 79-97. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2013) An Hegelian In Strange Costume? On Peirce's Relation to Hegel II. Philosophy Compass, 8, 63-72.
Stern R (2013) An Hegelian In Strange Costume? On Peirce's Relation to Hegel I. Philosophy Compass, 8, 53-62. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2012) A Reply to My Critics. Inquiry, 55, 622-54. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2012) Is Hegel’s Master–Slave Dialectic a Refutation of Solipsism?. British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 20, 333-361. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2012) A Reply to My Critics. Inquiry, 55(6), 622-654.
Stern R (2010) Moral Scepticism and Agency: Kant and Korsgaard. Ratio, 23, 453-474.
Stern R (2009) The Autonomy of Morality and the Morality of Autonomy. Journal of Moral Philosophy, 6, 395-415.
Stern R (2007) Hegel, British Idealism, and the Curious case of the Concrete Universal. British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 15(1), 115-153. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2007) Peirce, Hegel, and the Category of Secondness. Inquiry, 50(2), 123-155. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2007) Peirce, Hegel, and the Category of Firstness. International Yearbook of German Idealism, 5, 276-308.
Stern R (2007) Transcendental Arguments: A Plea for Modesty. Grazer Philosophische Studien, 74, 143-161. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2006) Metaphysical Dogmatism, Humean Scepticism, Kantian Criticism. Kantian Review, 11(1), 102-116. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2006) Hegel's Doppelsatz: A Neutral Reading. Journal of the History of Philosophy, XLIV(2), 235-266.
Stern R (2005) Peirce on Hegel: Nominalist or Realist. Transactions of the C S Peirce Society, 41(1), 65-99. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2004) Coherence as a Test for Truth. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 69(2), 296-326. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2004) Does "Ought" Imply "Can"? And Did Kant Think It Does?. Utilitas, 16(1), 42-61. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (1999) Going Beyond the Kantian Philosophy: On McDowell's Hegelian Critique of Kant. European Journal of Philosophy, 7(2), 247-269. View this article in WRRO
Foisneau L, Brooke JH, Morris KJ, Clarke DM, Stephens J, Haddock B, Stern R, Robles JA & Stratton‐Lake P (1995) Book review. British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 3(2), 441-472.
Stern R (1995) British Hegelianism: A Non-Metaphysical View?. Hegel Bulletin, 16(01), 17-38.
Stern R (1994) British Hegelianism: A Non-Metaphysical View?. European Journal of Philosophy, 2(3), 293-321.
Stern R (1993) Did Hegel Hold an Identity Theory of Truth?. Mind, 102, 645-647.
Stern R (1993) James and Bradley on Understanding. Philosophy, 68(264), 193-209.
Stern R (1991) The Relation Between Moral Theory and Metaphysics. Proceedings of the Aristotlian Society, XCII, 143-159.
Stern R (1990) Kant, Hegel, and the Place of the Subject. Jahrbuch fuer Hegelforschung, 183-193.
Stern R (1990) Hegel and the New Historicism. Bulletin of the Hegel Society of Great Britain, 21/22, 55-70.
Stern R (1989) Unity and Difference in Hegel’s Political Philosophy. Ratio, 2, 75-88.
Stern R () Schelling on freedom, evil and imputation: A puzzle. European Journal of Philosophy.
Stern R & Saunders J () The Individual as an Object of Love: The Property View of Love Meets the Hegelian View of Properties. Ergo.
Stern R () Explaining Synthetic a priori Knowledge: The Achilles’ Heel of Transcendental Idealism?. Kantian Review.
Stern R () Kierkegaard, Løgstrup and the conditions of love: from God’s grace to life as a gift. Studies in Christian Ethics. View this article in WRRO

Chapters

Stern R (2023) “A Good Doctor But a Bad Person?” A Puzzle for Role Ethics from Løgstrup In Barber A & Cordell S (Ed.), The Ethics of Social Roles (pp. 87-103). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Stern R & Rabjerg B (2023) Løgstrup, Knud Ejler (1905–81), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Routledge
Stern R (2023) Freedom, radical evil and 'ought implies can': A problem for Kant, FREEDOM AFTER KANT (pp. 11-26).
Stern R (2022) “This Is the Very Essence of the Reformation: Man in His Very Nature Is Destined to be Free”, Hegel's Philosophy of Right (pp. 45-65). Routledge
Stern R (2022) Murdoch and K. E. Løgstrup In Panizza SC & Hopwood M (Ed.), The Murdochian Mind (pp. 331-344). London: Routledge.
Lewis JHP & Stern R (2019) Commanding, Giving, Vulnerable: What Is The Normative Standing Of The Other In Levinas? In Fagenblat M & Erdur M (Ed.), Levinas and Analytic Philosophy: Second-Person Normativity and the Moral Life (pp. 101-121).
Stern R (2019) Levinas, Darwall, and Løgstrup on Second-Personal Ethics: Command or Responsibility? In Morgan M (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Levinas (pp. 303-320). Oxford: Oxford University Press. View this article in WRRO
Williams NW & Stern R (2019) James and Hegel: Looking for a Home In Klein A (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook to William James Oxford University Press
Stern R (2017) Hegel’s Vorbegriff to the Encyclopedia Logic and Its Context Oxford University Press View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2017) ‘'Duty and Virtue Are Moral Introversions": On Løgstrup’s Critique of Morality In Fink H & Stern R (Ed.), What is Ethically Demanded? K. E. Løgstrup’s Philosophy of Moral Life (pp. 300-324). Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. View this article in WRRO
(2017) The Philosophy of Trust Oxford University Press View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2017) Silencing the Sceptic? The Prospects for Transcendental Arguments in Practical Philosophy In Brune JP, Stern R & Werner MH (Ed.), Transcendental Arguments in Moral Theory (pp. 9-23). Berlin: De Gruyter. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2017) A Gift or a Given? On the Role of Life in Løgstrup's Ethics In Keogh G (Ed.), The Ethics of Nature and the Nature of Ethics (pp. 53-70). Lexington Books View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2017) British Idealism In Golob S & Timmermann J (Ed.), The Cambridge History of Moral Philosophy (pp. 535-548). Cambridge University Press View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2017) Freedom, Norms, and Nature in Hegel: Self-Legislation or Self-Realization? In Zuckert R & Kreines J (Ed.), Hegel on Philosophy in History (pp. 88-105). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2016) Does Hegelian Ethics Rest on a Mistake? In Testa I & Ruggiu L (Ed.), ‘I That Is We, We That Is I’: Perspectives on Contemporary Hegel: Social Ontology, Recognition, Naturalism, and the Critique of Kantian Constructivism (pp. 109-206). Leiden: Brill. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2016) Others as the Ground of Our Existence In Kim H & Hoeltzel S (Ed.), Transcendental Inquiry: Its History, Methods and Critiques (pp. 181-208). Palgrave Macmillan View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2016) Introduction to Hegel In Crowe BD (Ed.), The Nineteenth Century Philosophy Reader (pp. 151-160). Routledge View this article in WRRO
Gava G & Stern R (2016) Pragmatism, Kant, and Transcendental Philosophy Introduction, PRAGMATISM, KANT, AND TRANSCENDENTAL PHILOSOPHY (pp. 1-21).
Stern R (2015) Round Kant or Through Him? On James's Arguments for Freedom and Their Relation to Kant's In Stern R & Gava G (Ed.), Pragmatism, Kant, and Transcendental Philosophy (pp. 152-176). Abingdon: Routledge. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2015) Why Does Ought Imply Can? In van Ackeren M & Kuhler M (Ed.), The Limits of Moral Obligation: Moral Demandingness and Ought Implies Can (pp. 100-115). Abingdon: Routledge. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2013) Kant, Moral Obligation, and the Holy Will In Timmons M & Baiasu S (Ed.), Kant on Practical Justification (pp. 125-152). OUP USA
Stern R (2013) Moral Skepticism, Constructivism, and the Value of Humanity In Bagnoli C (Ed.), Constructivism in Ethics (pp. 22-40). View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2013) 'My Station and its Duties': Social Role Accounts of Obligation in Green and Bradley In Boyle N, Disley L & Ameriks K (Ed.), The Impact of Idealism: Volume 1 Philosophy and Natural Science (pp. 299-322). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2012) Constructivism and the Argument from Autonomy In Lenman J & Shemmer Y (Ed.), Constructivism in Practical Philosophy (pp. 119-137). OUP Oxford
Stern R (2012) On Hegel's Critique of Kant's Ethics: Beyond the Empty Formalism Objection In Brooks T (Ed.), Hegel's Philosophy of Right (pp. 73-99). Wiley-Blackwell
Stern R (2011) The Value of Humanity: Reflections on Korsgaard's Transcendental Argument In Smith J & Sullivan P (Ed.), Transcendental Philosophy and Naturalism (pp. 74-95). View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2011) Moral Scepticism and Agency: Kant and Korsgaard, Agents and their Actions (pp. 99-120).
Stern R (2011) Hegel and Pragmatism In Houlgate S & Baur M (Ed.), A Companion to Hegel (pp. 556-575). Wiley-Blackwell
Stern R (2009) Hegel and Pragmatism In Stern R (Ed.), Hegelian Metaphysics (pp. 209-238). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Stern R (2008) Kant's Response to Skepticism In Greco J (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Skepticism (pp. 265-286). Oxford University Press, USA
Stern R (2008) Hegel's Idealism In Beiser FC (Ed.), The Cambridge companion to Hegel and nineteenth-century philosophy (pp. 135-173). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2007) Individual Existence and the Philosophy of Difference In Leiter B & Rosen M (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Continental Philosophy (pp. 379-408). Oxford University Press, USA
Stern R (2007) Freedom, Self-Legislation and Morality in Kant and Hegel: Constructivist vs Realist Accounts In Hammer E (Ed.), German Idealism: Contemporary Perspectives (pp. 246-266). London: Routledge.
Stern R (2005) Nineteenth Century Philosophy In Craig E (Ed.), The Shorter Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (pp. 742-747). London: Routledge.
Stern R (2003) On Strawson's Naturalistic Turn In Glock H (Ed.), Strawson and Kant Oxford University Press, USA
Stern R (1999) On Kant's Reply to Hume: The Second Analogy as Transcendental Argument In Stern R (Ed.), Transcendental Arguments: Problems and Prospects (pp. 47-66). Oxford University Press, USA
Stern R & Walker N (1998) Hegelianism In Craig E (Ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (pp. 280-302). London: Routledge.
Stern R (1996) Hegel, Scepticism and Transcendental Arguments In Fulda HF & Horstmann R (Ed.), Skeptizismus und spekulatives Denken in der Philosophie Hegels (pp. 206-225). Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta.
Stern R (1995) Søren Kierkegaard In Teichmann J & White G (Ed.), An Introduction to European Philosophy (pp. 18-37). Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Stern R (1995) G. W. F. Hegel In Teichman J & White G (Ed.), An Introduction to modern European philosophy (pp. 18-37).
Stern R (1994) MacIntyre and Historicism In Horton J & Mendus S (Ed.), After MacIntyre (pp. 146-160). Cambridge: Polity.
Stern R (1993) Introduction In Stern R (Ed.), G. W. F. Hegel: Critical Assessments (pp. 1-19). London: Routledge.
Stern R (1993) Introduction In Stern R (Ed.), G. W. F. Hegel: Critical Assessments (pp. 21-31). London: Routledge.
Stern R (1988) Introduction In von Schelling FWJ, Harris EE & Heath P (Ed.), Ideas for a Philosophy of Nature (pp. ix-xxiii). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Book reviews

Stern R (2021) In the spirit of Hegel?. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 103(3), 734-740. View this article in WRRO
Stern R (2018) Kreines on the Problem of Metaphysics in Kant and Hegel. Hegel Bulletin, 39(1), 106-120.
Stern R (2004) Pinkard on German Idealism. Bulletin of the Hegel Society of Great Britain, 49/50, 1-17.

Website content

Lomholt E (2015) The Secularisation of Spiritual Life.
Løgstrup KE (2015) ‘Existence Theology and Its Distinction Between Faith and World-View’.
Løgstrup KE (2015) Humanism and Christianity.
Sløk J (2015) Three Kierkegaard Interpretations.
Stern R Løgstrup's Ethical Demand.

Dictionary/encyclopaedia entries

Stern R (2020) Luther's Influence on Philosophy. In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Stern R (2020) Martin Luther. In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Stern R (2011) Transcendental Arguments. In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Other

Løgstrup K (2019) The Category and the Office of Proclamation, with Particular Reference to Luther. Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal, 40, 183-201.
Løgstrup KE (2019) Knud E. Løgstrup: “Humanism and Christianity”. Translated by Kees van Kooten Niekerk, Bjørn Rabjerg and Robert Stern. Journal for the History of Modern Theology / Zeitschrift für Neuere Theologiegeschichte, 26(1), 132-146. View this article in WRRO
Løgstrup KE, Bennett C & Stern R () The Category and the Office of Proclamation, with Particular Reference to Luther and Kierkegaard. Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal, 40(1), 183-209. View this article in WRRO

Professional activities and memberships

Chair of Philosophy sub-panel for REF2021
Fellow of the British Academy
Former President of the British Philosophical Association.
Formerly the editor of the journal European Journal of Philosophy and of Bulletin of the Hegel Society of Great Britain, and President of the HSGB.
'Hegel's Doppelsatz: A Neutral Reading' was awarded the Journal of the History of Philosophy Board of Directors annual prize for the best article of 2006.
Awarded a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship for 2008-10, and a Leverhulme Network Grant for 2012-15, for a project on 'Idealism and Pragmatism: Convergence or Contestation?'
Awarded an AHRC Fellowship for 2015-17