The Highest Good in Kant’s Philosophy
The Highest Good in Kant’s Philosophy

Author: Thomas Höwing

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2016-04-25

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 3110392747

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The idea of a final end of human conduct – the highest good – plays an important role in Kant’s philosophy. Unlike his predecessors Kant defines the highest good as a combination of two heterogeneous elements, namely virtue and happiness. This conception lies at the centre of some of the most influential Kantian doctrines such as his famous “moral argument” for the rationality of faith, his conception of the unity of reason and his views concerning the final end of nature as well as the historical progress of mankind. To be sure, the different treatments of the highest good in Kant’s work have led to a great deal of discussion among his readers. Besides Kant’s arguments for moral faith, recent debate has focused on the place of the highest good within Kant’s moral theory, on the antinomy of pure practical reason, and on the idea of the primacy of practical reason. This collection of new essays attempts to re-evaluate Kant’s doctrine of the highest good and to determine its relevance for contemporary philosophy.

The Highest Good in Aristotle and Kant
The Highest Good in Aristotle and Kant

Author: Joachim Aufderheide

Publisher: Mind Association Occasional

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 0198714017

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The notion of the highest good used to occupy a primary role in ethical theorising, but has largely disappeared from the contemporary landscape. The notion was central to both Aristotle's and Kant's ethical theories, however--a surprising observation given that their approaches to ethics are commonly conceived as being diametrically opposed. The essays in this collection provide a comprehensive treatment of the highest good in Aristotle and Kant and show that, even though there are important differences in terms of content, there are also important similarities in terms of the structural features of Aristotle's and Kant's value theories. By carefully analysing Aristotle's and Kant's theories of the highest good, a team of experts in the field shed light on their respective ethical theories and highlight the richness, complexity, and fruitfulness of the notion of the highest good.

The Cambridge Companion to Kant and Modern Philosophy
The Cambridge Companion to Kant and Modern Philosophy

Author: Paul Guyer

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2006-01-30

Total Pages: 760

ISBN-13: 1139827030

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The philosophy of Immanuel Kant is the watershed of modern thought, which irrevocably changed the landscape of the field and prepared the way for all the significant philosophical movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This 2006 volume, which complements The Cambridge Companion to Kant, covers every aspect of Kant's philosophy, with a particular focus on his moral and political philosophy. It also provides detailed coverage of Kant's historical context and of the enormous impact and influence that his work has had on the subsequent history of philosophy. The bibliography also offers extensive and organized coverage of both classical and recent books on Kant. This volume thus provides the broadest and deepest introduction currently available on Kant and his place in modern philosophy, making accessible the philosophical enterprise of Kant to those coming to his work for the first time.

The Value of Humanity in Kant's Moral Theory
The Value of Humanity in Kant's Moral Theory

Author: Richard Dean

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2006-05-11

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 0199285721

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The humanity formulation of Kant's Categorical Imperative demands that we treat humanity as an end in itself. Because this principle resonates with currently influential ideals of human rights and dignity, contemporary readers often find it compelling, even if the rest of Kant's moral philosophy leaves them cold. Moreover, some prominent specialists in Kant's ethics have recently turned to the humanity formulation as the most theoretically central and promising principle of Kant'sethics. Nevertheless, it has received less attention than many other aspects of Kant's ethics. Richard Dean offers the most sustained and systematic examination of the humanity formulation to date. He presents an original analysis of what it means to treat humanity as an end in itself, and examinesthe implications both for Kant scholarship and for practical guidance on specific moral issues.

The Kantian Foundation of Schopenhauer's Pessimism
The Kantian Foundation of Schopenhauer's Pessimism

Author: Dennis Vanden Auweele

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2017-04-21

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1351721607

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Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- Note on References -- Introduction -- 1 Schopenhauer's Philosophical Pedigree -- 2 Schopenhauer on Knowledge -- 3 Schopenhauer's Metaphysics -- 4 Schopenhauer on Ethics and Action -- 5 Schopenhauer's Philosophy of Religion -- 6 Schopenhauer's Aesthetics -- 7 Schopenhauer's Ascetics -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index

Kant’s Moral Metaphysics
Kant’s Moral Metaphysics

Author: Benjamin Bruxvoort Lipscomb

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2010-06-29

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 3110220040

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Morality has traditionally been understood to be tied to certain metaphysical beliefs: notably, in the freedom of human persons (to choose right or wrong courses of action), in a god (or gods) who serve(s) as judge(s) of moral character, and in an afterlife as the locus of a “final judgment” on individual behavior. Some scholars read the history of moral philosophy as a gradual disentangling of our moral commitments from such beliefs. Kant is often given an important place in their narratives, despite the fact that Kant himself asserts that some of such beliefs are necessary (necessary, at least, from the practical point of view). Many contemporary neo-Kantian moral philosophers have embraced these “disentangling” narratives or, at any rate, have minimized the connection of Kant’s practical philosophy with controversial metaphysical commitments ‐ even with Kant’s transcendental idealism. This volume re-evaluates those interpretations. It is arguably the first collection to systematically explore the metaphysical commitments central to Kant’s practical philosophy, and thus the connections between Kantian ethics, his philosophy of religion, and his epistemological claims concerning our knowledge of the supersensible.

The Virtues of Freedom
The Virtues of Freedom

Author: Paul Guyer

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016-12-01

Total Pages: 512

ISBN-13: 0191072265

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The essays collected in this volume by Paul Guyer, one of the world's foremost Kant scholars, explore Kant's attempt to develop a morality grounded on the intrinsic and unconditional value of the human freedom to set our own ends. When regulated by the principle that the freedom of all is equally valuable, the freedom to set our own ends -- what Kant calls "humanity" - becomes what he calls autonomy. These essays explore Kant's strategies for establishing the premise that freedom is the inner worth of the world or the essential end of humankind, as he says, and for deriving the specific duties that fundamental principle of morality generates in the empirical circumstances of human existence. The Virtues of Freedom further investigates Kant's attempts to prove that we are always free to live up to this moral ideal, that is, that we have free will no matter what, as well as his more successful explorations of the ways in which our natural tendencies to be moral -- dispositions to the feeling of respect and more specific feelings such as love and self-esteem -- can and must be cultivated and educated. Guyer finally examines the various models of human community that Kant develops from his premise that our associations must be based on the value of freedom for all. The contrasts but also similarities of Kant's moral philosophy to that of David Hume but many of his other predecessors and contemporaries, such as Stoics and Epicureans, Pufendorf and Wolff, Hutcheson, Kames, and Smith, are also explored.

Critique of Practical Reason
Critique of Practical Reason

Author: Immanuel Kant

Publisher: Courier Corporation

Published: 2012-06-11

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13: 0486113027

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This 1788 work, based on belief in the immortality of the soul, established Kant as a vindicator of the truth of Christianity. It offers the most complete statement of his theory of free will.

Kant and the Concept of Community
Kant and the Concept of Community

Author: Charlton Payne

Publisher: University Rochester Press

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 1580463878

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An interdisciplanary collection of essays focused on Kant's work on the concept of community. The concept of community plays a central role in Kant's theoretical philosophy, his practical philosophy, his aesthetics, and his religious thought. Kant uses community in many philosophical contexts: the category of community introduced in his table of categories in the Critique of Pure Reason; the community of substances in the third analogy; the realm of ends as an ethical community; the state and the public sphere as political communities; the sensus communis of the Critique of Judgment; and the idea of the church as a religious community in Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason. Given Kant's status as a systematic philosopher, volume editorsPayne and Thorpe maintain that any examination of the concept of community in one area of his work can be understood only in relation to the others. In this volume, then, scholars from different disciplines -- specializing in various aspects of and approaches to Kant's work -- offer their interpretations of Kant on the concept of community. The various essays further illustrate the central relevance and importance of Kant's conception of community to contemporary debates in various fields. Charlton Payne is postdoctoral fellow at Plattform Weltregionen und Interaktionen, Universität Erfurt, Germany. Lucas Thorpe is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy atBogaziçi University, Turkey. Contributors: Ronald Beiner, Jeffrey Edwards, Michael Feola, Paul Guyer, Jane Kneller, Béatrice Longuenesse, Jan Mieszkowski, Onora O'Neill, Charlton Payne, Susan M. Shell, Lucas Thorpe, Eric Watkins, Allen W. Wood