Download or read book Categorical Principles of Law written by Otfried Höffe and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Germany, Otfried H&öffe has been a leading contributor to debates in moral, legal, political, and social philosophy for close to three decades. H&öffe's work (like that of his contemporary, J&ürgen Habermas), brings into relief the relevance of these German discussions to their counterparts in English-language circles. In this book, originally published in Germany in 1990 and expanded since, H&öffe proposes an extended and original interpretation of Kant&‚ philosophy of law, and social morality. H&öffe articulates his reading of Kant in the context of an account of modernity as a &"polyphonous project,&" in which the dominant themes of pluralism and empiricism are countered by the theme of categorically binding moral principles, such as human rights. Paying equal attention to the nuances of Kant's texts and the character of the philosophical issues in their own right, H&öffe ends up with a Kantianism that requires, rather than precludes, a moral anthropology and that questions the fashionable juxtaposition of Kant and Aristotle as exemplars of incompatible approaches to ethical and political thought.
Download or read book Force and Freedom written by Arthur Ripstein and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2010-02-15 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this masterful work, both an illumination of Kant’s thought and an important contribution to contemporary legal and political theory, Arthur Ripstein gives a comprehensive yet accessible account of Kant’s political philosophy. Ripstein shows that Kant’s thought is organized around two central claims: first, that legal institutions are not simply responses to human limitations or circumstances; indeed the requirements of justice can be articulated without recourse to views about human inclinations and vulnerabilities. Second, Kant argues for a distinctive moral principle, which restricts the legitimate use of force to the creation of a system of equal freedom. Ripstein’s description of the unity and philosophical plausibility of this dimension of Kant’s thought will be a revelation to political and legal scholars. In addition to providing a clear and coherent statement of the most misunderstood of Kant’s ideas, Ripstein also shows that Kant’s views remain conceptually powerful and morally appealing today. Ripstein defends the idea of equal freedom by examining several substantive areas of law—private rights, constitutional law, police powers, and punishment—and by demonstrating the compelling advantages of the Kantian framework over competing approaches.
Download or read book How Hume and Kant Reconstruct Natural Law written by Kenneth R. Westphal and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-04-07 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kenneth R. Westphal presents an original interpretation of Hume's and Kant's moral philosophies, the differences between which are prominent in current philosophical accounts. Westphal argues that focussing on these differences, however, occludes a decisive, shared achievement: a distinctive constructivist method to identify basic moral principles and to justify their strict objectivity, without invoking moral realism nor moral anti-realism or irrealism. Their constructivism is based on Hume's key insight that 'though the laws of justice are artificial, they are not arbitrary'. Arbitrariness in basic moral principles is avoided by starting with fundamental problems of social coördination which concern outward behaviour and physiological needs; basic principles of justice are artificial because solving those problems does not require appeal to moral realism (nor to moral anti-realism). Instead, moral cognitivism is preserved by identifying sufficient justifying reasons, which can be addressed to all parties, for the minimum sufficient legitimate principles and institutions required to provide and protect basic forms of social coördination (including verbal behaviour). Hume first develops this kind of constructivism for basic property rights and for government. Kant greatly refines Hume's construction of justice within his 'metaphysical principles of justice', whilst preserving the core model of Hume's innovative constructivism. Hume's and Kant's constructivism avoids the conventionalist and relativist tendencies latent if not explicit in contemporary forms of moral constructivism.
Download or read book Kant s Search for the Supreme Principle of Morality written by Samuel J. Kerstein and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2002-05-02 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the core of Kant's ethics lies the claim that if there is a supreme principle of morality then it cannot be a principle based on utilitarianism or Aristotelian perfectionism or the Ten Commandments. The only viable candidate for such a principle is the categorical imperative. This book is the most detailed investigation of this claim. It constructs a new, criterial reading of Kant's derivation of one version of the categorical imperative: the Formula of Universal Law. This reading shows this derivation to be far more compelling than contemporary philosophers tend to believe. It also reveals a novel approach to deriving another version of the categorical imperative, the Formula of Humanity, a principle widely considered to be the most attractive Kantian candidate for the supreme principle of morality. This book will be important not just for Kant scholars but for a broad swathe of students of philosophy.
Download or read book The Philosophy of Law written by Immanuel Kant and published by . This book was released on 1887 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Understanding Kant s Ethics written by Michael Cholbi and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-11-17 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A systematic guide to Kant's ethical work and the debates surrounding it, accessible to students and specialists alike.
Download or read book Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals written by Immanuel Kant and published by . This book was released on 1949 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book An Introduction to Kant s Moral Philosophy written by Jennifer K. Uleman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-01-21 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Immanuel Kant's moral philosophy is one of the most distinctive achievements of the European Enlightenment. At its heart lies what Kant called the 'strange thing': the free, rational, human will. This introduction explores the basis of Kant's anti-naturalist, secular, humanist vision of the human good. Moving from a sketch of the Kantian will, with all its component parts and attributes, to Kant's canonical arguments for his categorical imperative, this introduction shows why Kant thought his moral law the best summary expression of both his own philosophical work on morality and his readers' deepest shared convictions about the good. Kant's central tenets, key arguments, and core values are presented in an accessible and engaging way, making this book ideal for anyone eager to explore the fundamentals of Kant's moral philosophy.
Download or read book From Principles to Practice written by Onora O'Neill and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-20 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although abstract principles alone cannot guide action, they can be combined to shape good practical judgement and change the world.
Download or read book The Moral Law written by Immanuel Kant and published by . This book was released on 1948 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals written by Immanuel Kant and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2023-09-11 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reproduction of the original. The publishing house Megali specialises in reproducing historical works in large print to make reading easier for people with impaired vision.
Download or read book Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals written by Immanuel Kant and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2008-10-01 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Immanuel Kant’s Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals is one of the most important texts in the history of ethics. In it Kant searches for the supreme principle of morality and argues for a conception of the moral life that has made this work a continuing source of controversy and an object of reinterpretation for over two centuries. This new edition of Kant’s work provides a fresh translation that is uniquely faithful to the German original and more fully annotated than any previous translation. There are also four essays by well-known scholars that discuss Kant’s views and the philosophical issues raised by the Groundwork. J.B. Schneewind defends the continuing interest in Kantian ethics by examining its historical relation both to the ethical thought that preceded it and to its influence on the ethical theories that came after it; Marcia Baron sheds light on Kant’s famous views about moral motivation; and Shelly Kagan and Allen W. Wood advocate contrasting interpretations of Kantian ethics and its practical implications.
Download or read book Kant s System of Moral Law written by Zachary Biondi and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Immanuel Kant's Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals has a surprisingly simple aim: to identify the Categorical Imperative, the single principle of morality. Yet Kant never directly says what the principle is. It is a scandal of Kant scholarship. One statement is the Formula of Universal Law: "act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." Shortly after, in a different formulation of the principle (called the Formula of Humanity), Kant says that you should "act in such a way that you treat humanity [...] always at the same time as an end and never simply as a means." The book includes as many as five or six other formulations, all of which are somehow the Categorical Imperative. There is a natural puzzle: given that Kant presents his single moral principle in a variety of formulations, how do they all relate to each other? Any reading of the text demands an answer to this question. Literature tends to revolve around issues of equivalence and priority among formulations. The majority of scholars, including John Rawls, Paul Guyer, and Onora O'Neill, believe that the formulations are equivalent: the formulations either yield the same results when applied to cases or can be derived from each other. Scholars also wonder whether some formulations are more important than others. For example, is the Formula of Universal Law the Categorical Imperative, while the others are subsidiary? Fortunately, in some neglected and abstract passages, Kant discusses the relation among the formulas directly. In the Groundwork (p. 4:436), he says that the Formula of Universal Law highlights 1) the form of the law, 2) the Formula of Humanity the matter, and 3) most enigmatically, that there is a "complete determination" of laws in a possible kingdom of ends. Kant is invoking terms from the Critique of Pure Reason, an earlier work not directly about ethics. My dissertation uses a new reading of the terms in the Critique of Pure Reason to inform a new reading of the Categorical Imperative and Groundwork as a whole. On this approach, issues like equivalence and priority fall away and new, more productive readings of Kant's argument emerge. In my view, the best way to solve an enduring problem in the scholarship on Kant's ethics is to look outside his ethics. Chapter One uses Kant's theory of matter and form to frame a new reading of the first two formulas in the Groundwork, the Formula of Universal Law and the Formula of Humanity. The chapter begins by discussing the influence of Aristotelian hylomorphism on Kant's language, epistemology, and metaphysics. I look at the first Critique and Lectures to develop Kant's picture of form and matter. With this picture, it becomes clear that the first two formulations are about two distinct but inseparable concepts. When Kant talks about universality, he is highlighting the formal or structural features of the Categorical Imperative. It is a law-universal, general, and necessary. 'Do not lie' is a principle that holds for everyone. The formulation about humanity as an "end" supplies its matter or content. The law is about humanity-a rational nature with value or worth. Lying involves communication among rational beings. My reading has implications for freedom or autonomy, the concept at the core of Kant's philosophy. Hylomorphic language indicates that the matter and form combine. An autonomous will is one that wills universal laws that have itself as content. A good will, then, has a hylomorphic structure: it is a combination of matter and form. Kant uses the relation between the first two formulas to make this point. Understanding the relation among the formulations turns out to be the same as understanding how we are free. Chapters Two and Three analyze Kant's claims about complete determination and possibility, the third point in the 4:436 passage. Chapter Two focuses entirely on theoretical philosophy. Kant discusses complete determination in the Ideal of Pure Reason, the last chapter of the Transcendental Dialectic in the Critique of Pure Reason. He makes an intricate and compressed argument that possibility is grounded in reality, specifically God as a rational ideal. By considering Kant's theories of modality, reason, and concepts, I show that the primary function of complete determination is to lead to this ideal. For Kant, the faculty of reason assumes that all concepts are derived from some maximally real and completely determined being, the titular ideal of pure reason. The chapter provides a new reading of the argument, including a discussion of Kant's mention of refinement (läuterung), which has gone overlooked by scholars. It also traces the development of the argument from pre-critical works like The Only Possible Argument in Support of a Demonstration of the Existence of God and Negative Magnitudes. Chapter Three, the culmination of the dissertation, applies the reading of the Ideal of Pure Reason to the Groundwork. It begins with a treatment of Kant's theory of reason and concept of system. With a third formula of the moral law, the Formula of the Kingdom of Ends, Kant is showing that practical reason utilizes systematic thinking. Morality is not a list of isolated principles but includes interrelation and interdependence among them. The Formula of the Kingdom of Ends and reference to complete determination emphasize this. Chapter Three provides a reading of the Kingdom of Ends, why systematicity is essential to it, and what a complete determination of moral laws would be. For Kant, practical reason assumes that all possible moral principles are derived from a single ideal that supplies their content. The reference to complete determination leads the reader to see that a version of the argument from the first Critique Ideal of Pure Reason is assumed in the Groundwork. The chapter details the argument and explores how it solves a longstanding problem in Kant's scholarship, namely, the source of the positive content of the law. The answer is an ideal that makes systematic practical cognition possible. The central claim of the dissertation is that the relation among the formulas is best understood through the theories of hylomorphism, modality, and reason implicit throughout the Groundwork. A possible law, like 'Do not lie', is a type of hylomorphic composite: the matter of rational nature under the form of universality. But reason treats morality as necessarily systematic. The individual laws are a plurality that is unified under the form of system. The Groundwork uses a sequence of formulas to identify the moral law as a single system. And if the law is a complete system, it cannot be stated in a single formula. The reading that the Categorical Imperative and Groundwork must be understood as parts of Kant's philosophical system provides responses to many objections to his moral theory. It also portrays the theory as a commentary on figures in the history of philosophy-from Aristotle and Plato to Leibniz and Rousseau. In the end, this is how Kant wanted his system to be read: as one part of a larger whole.
Download or read book Kant s Metaphysics of Morals written by Lara Denis and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-10-28 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Immanuel Kant's Metaphysics of Morals (1797), containing the Doctrine of Right and Doctrine of Virtue, is his final major work of practical philosophy. Its focus is not rational beings in general but human beings in particular, and it presupposes and deepens Kant's earlier accounts of morality, freedom and moral psychology. In this volume of newly-commissioned essays, a distinguished team of contributors explores the Metaphysics of Morals in relation to Kant's earlier works, as well as examining themes which emerge from the text itself. Topics include the relation between right and virtue, property, punishment, and moral feeling. Their diversity of questions, perspectives and approaches will provide new insights into the work for scholars in Kant's moral and political theory.
Download or read book Kant s Theory of Normativity written by Konstantin Pollok and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-02-02 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A milestone in Kant scholarship, this interpretation of his critical philosophy makes sense of his notorious 'synthetic judgments a priori'.
Download or read book The Categorical Imperative written by H. J. Paton and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 1971-10-29 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A classic exposition of Kant's ethical thought.
Download or read book Reconstructing Rawls written by Robert S. Taylor and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2015-11-10 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reconstructing Rawls has one overarching goal: to reclaim Rawls for the Enlightenment—more specifically, the Prussian Enlightenment. Rawls’s so-called political turn in the 1980s, motivated by a newfound interest in pluralism and the accommodation of difference, has been unhealthy for autonomy-based liberalism and has led liberalism more broadly toward cultural relativism, be it in the guise of liberal multiculturalism or critiques of cosmopolitan distributive-justice theories. Robert Taylor believes that it is time to redeem A Theory of Justice’s implicit promise of a universalistic, comprehensive Kantian liberalism. Reconstructing Rawls on Kantian foundations leads to some unorthodox conclusions about justice as fairness, to be sure: for example, it yields a more civic-humanist reading of the priority of political liberty, a more Marxist reading of the priority of fair equality of opportunity, and a more ascetic or antimaterialist reading of the difference principle. It nonetheless leaves us with a theory that is still recognizably Rawlsian and reveals a previously untraveled road out of Theory—a road very different from the one Rawls himself ultimately followed.
