Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
Associate Professor

Associate Professor Melissa Merritt

B.A. Yale University; Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh

Arts,Design & Architecture
Humanities & Languages

Melissa Merritt is a philosopher working primarily on the history of ethics.  Her book, Kant on Reflection and Virtue (Cambridge University Press, 2018), examines how the Kantian idea of virtue is rooted in an account of the essentially reflective nature of the rational mind.  Her current research examines the influence of Stoic philosophy on Immanuel Kant, particularly in ethics and moral psychology -- and from this historical foundation aims to reassess the possibilities of moral rationalism in contemporary ethics.  

Merritt is currently an ARC Future Fellow working on a project called Reason, Value, and Virtue: Assessing the Stoic Legacy in Kantian Ethics (FT180100494, 2018-2022), and Associate Professor of philosophy in the School of Humanities and Languages at UNSW. 

 

 
Phone
+61-2-9065-1415
E-mail
m.merritt@unsw.edu.au
Location
341 Morven Brown

Publications

  • Book Chapters | 2020
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Merritt M, 2020, 'Mendelssohn and Kant on virtue as a skill', in Fridland E; Pavese C (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Skill and Expertise, Routledge, London, pp. 88 - 99, http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315180809-8
    Books | 2018
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Merritt M, 2018, The Sublime, Elements in the Philosophy of Immanuel Kant, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/9781108529709
    Books | 2018
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Merritt M, 2018, Kant on Reflection and Virtue, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/9781108344005
    Book Chapters | 2017
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Merritt M, 2017, '“Sublimity and Joy: Kant on the Aesthetic Constitution of Virtue”', in Altman MC (ed.), The Palgrave Kant Handbook, edn. Palgrave Handbooks in German Idealism, Palgrave, London, pp. 447 - 467, http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54656-2
    Book Chapters | 2017
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Merritt MM, 2017, 'Sublimity and Joy: Kant on the Aesthetic Constitution of Virtue', in The Palgrave Kant Handbook, Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 447 - 467, http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54656-2_20
    Book Chapters | 2014
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Merritt M, 2014, '"Kant on the Pleasures of Understanding"', in Kant on Emotion and Value, edn. Philosophers in Depth, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK, pp. 126 - 145, http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/?sf1=id_product&st1=632938
    Book Chapters | 2014
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Merritt MM, 2014, 'Kant on the Pleasures of Understanding', in Kant on Emotion and Value, Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 126 - 145, http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9781137276650_7
    Book Chapters | 2012
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Melissa MM, 2012, '"The Moral Source of the Kantian Sublime"', in Costelloe T (ed.), The Sublime: From Antiquity to Present, Cambridge University Press, New York, pp. 37 - 49, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511978920.005
    Book Chapters | 2012
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Melissa MM; Valaris M, 2012, 'Kant and Kantian Epistemology', in Stephen Hetherington (ed.), Epistemology: The Key Thinkers, edn. 1st, Continuum, London, pp. 131 - 152
  • Journal articles | 2021
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Merritt M, 2021, 'Nature, corruption, and freedom: Stoic ethics in Kant's Religion', European Journal of Philosophy, vol. 29, pp. 3 - 24, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ejop.12553
    Journal articles | 2020
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Merritt MM, 2020, 'Feeling and Orientation in Action: A Reply to Alix Cohen', Kantian Review, pp. 1 - 10, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1369415420000515
    Journal articles | 2017
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Merritt M, 2017, 'Practical Reason and Respect for Persons', Kantian Review, vol. 22, pp. 53 - 79, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1369415416000376
    Journal articles | 2017
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Merritt M, 2017, 'Love, Respect, and Individuals: Murdoch as a Guide to Kantian Ethics', European Journal of Philosophy, vol. 25, pp. 1844 - 1863, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ejop.12280
    Journal articles | 2017
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Merritt MM; Valaris M, 2017, 'Attention and Synthesis in Kant's Conception of Experience', The Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 67, pp. 571 - 592, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/pq/pqw085
    Journal articles | 2017
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Merritt MMB, 2017, 'Motherhood in Ferrante's the lost daughter: A Case study of Irony as extraordinary reflection', Philosophy and Literature, vol. 41, pp. 185 - 200, http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/phl.2017.0012
    Journal articles | 2015
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Merritt M, 2015, 'Varieties of Reflection in Kant's Logic', British Journal for the History of Philosophy, vol. 23, pp. 478 - 501, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09608788.2015.1018129
    Journal articles | 2011
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Melissa MM, 2011, '"Kant on Enlightened Moral Pedagogy"', Southern Journal of Philosophy, vol. 49, pp. 227 - 253, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.2041-6962.2011.00072.x
    Journal articles | 2011
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Melissa MM, 2011, 'Kant's Argument for the Apperception Principle', European Journal of Philosophy, vol. 19, pp. 59 - 84, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0378.2009.00364.x
    Journal articles | 2011
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Melissa MM, 2011, 'Book Review: Will Dudley and Kristina Engelhard (eds.), Immanuel Kant: Key Concepts', Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, http://ndpr.nd.edu/news/27135-immanuel-kant-key-concepts/
    Journal articles | 2010
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Merritt MM, 2010, 'The Kantian Sublime and the Revelation of Freedom', BRITISH JOURNAL FOR THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY, vol. 18, pp. 528 - 531, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09608781003779883
    Journal articles | 2010
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Melissa MM, 2010, 'Kant on the Transcendental Deduction of Space and Time: an essay on the philosophical resources of the Transcendental Aesthetic', Kantian Review, vol. 14, pp. 1 - 37
    Journal articles | 2010
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Melissa MM, 2010, 'Book Review: Robert R. Clewis, The Kantian Sublime and the Revelation of Freedom', British Journal for the History of Philosophy, vol. 18, pp. 529 - 532
    Journal articles | 2009
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Melissa MM, 2009, 'Reflection, Enlightenment, and the Significance of Spontaneity in Kant', British Journal for the History of Philosophy, vol. 17, pp. 981 - 1010, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09608780903339178
    Journal articles | 2007
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Melissa MM, 2007, 'Analysis in the Critique of Pure Reason', Kantian Review, vol. 12, pp. 61 - 89, http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/uwp/kant/2007/00000012/00000001/art00004
    Journal articles | 2006
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Melissa MM, 2006, 'Analysis in the Critique of Pure Reason', Kantian Review, vol. 12, pp. 60 - 88
    Journal articles | 2006
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Melissa MM, 2006, 'Science and the Synthetic Method of the Critique of Pure Reason', Review of Metaphysics, vol. 59, pp. 517 - 539
  • Other | 2017
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    2017, Wisdom Won from Illness: Essays in Philosophy and Psychoanalysis, by Jonathan Lear: Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2017, pp. 328, US$39.95 (hardback)., http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00048402.2017.1365090
    Other | 2017
    Associate Professor Melissa Merritt
    Merritt M, 2017, Review of Manifest Reality: Kant’s Idealism and His Realism, by Lucy Allais, Taylor & Francis (Routledge): SSH Titles, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00048402.2016.1168857

Awards

2019 North American Kant Society Book Prize for Kant on Reflection and Virtue

2019 Dean's Research Award for Best Monograph, UNSW Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (now ADA)

2005 Review of Metaphysics Dissertation Essay Competition, winner 

 

Grants

Australian Research Council (ARC), Future Fellowship: "Reason, Value, and Virtue: Assessing the Stoic Legacy in Kantian Ethics" (FT180100494,  AU$850,525), 2018-2022.

Australian Research Council (ARC), Discovery Project, Chief Investigator: "Enlightened Judgment: Reflection and Cognitive Virtue in Kant’s Critical Philosophy" (DP130100172, AU$135,000), 2013-2015.

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