Thomas Pendlebury

Thomas Pendlebury is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Chicago, joining in July 2023. Previously, he served as Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh (2021-2023). He holds a PhD from Harvard University (2021) and a BA in Philosophy and Linguistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2014). His research focuses on Kant's theoretical and practical philosophy, its connections to early modern European philosophy, and post-Kantian German idealism.

• Education: PhD (Harvard, 2021); BA (UNC Chapel Hill, 2014)

His work investigates Kant's positive projects during the critical period, emphasizing the relationship between cognitive capacities (understanding, sensibility) and their teleological structure. Current research explores the role of practical reason in moral psychology and the metaphysical implications of transcendental idealism.

Recent publications include:

• The Kantian's Desire (2025) - analyzing practical reason's normative role in desire
• The Will of All in Kant’s Groundwork (2024) - reinterpreting universality in Kantian ethics
• The Real Problem of Pure Reason (2022) - reconceptualizing synthetic a priori knowledge
• The Shape of the Kantian Mind (2021) - examining intuition-concept relationship
• The First Acts of Kantian Cognition (2025) - Aristotelian first acts in Kantian epistemology