Human Abilities is a Centre for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (Kolleg-Forschungsgruppe) funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). It is directed jointly by Dominik Perler (HU Berlin) and Barbara Vetter (FU Berlin) and started in April 2020.

Appeal to human abilities is ubiquitous both in and outside philosophy. Lawyers sometimes need to determine the defendant’s rational abilities, teachers aim to help their students develop various abilities, and medication is sometimes used to enhance our abilities. In philosophy, abilities are a staple resource in discussions of free will, theories of knowledge, education, justice, and many more. The history of philosophy is rife with both appeals to human abilities and scathing criticisms of such appeals, especially in early modern philosophy.

The aim of the Human Abilities Centre is to reflect systematically on human abilities and their limits, with a focus on metaphysics, epistemology, and the philosophy of action. The first funding period focused on the nature and epistemology of human abilities: what is it to have an ability of the kind that we humans possess, how can we know about these abilities, and how can they help explain our role as both agents and knowers? The second funding period will focus on the limits of human abilities: how can these limits be thought of philosophically and how should they be dealt with rationally?

To address these questions, the project brings together researchers from all the different areas of philosophy and, where relevant, neighbouring disciplines where human abilities play a role. It thereby aims not only to further our understanding of human abilities, but also to build bridges, first, between historical accounts and contemporary theories; and second, between different subdisciplines of philosophy.