Kant's transcendental idealism

Sample

Joel Marks

"Ought Implies Kant offers an original defense of the ethical theory of Immanuel Kant, and develops an extension of that theory's account of moral duty to include direct duties to nonhuman animals. The discussion centers on a critical examination of consequentialism, the view that the rightness or wrongness of an action is determined solely by its consequences. Kantianism, by contrast, claims that the core of ethics is to treat all persons - or, in Joel Marks's view, all living beings - as ends-in-themselves. The consequentialist criterion would seem to permit, indeed require, violating the dignity of persons (not to mention the dignity of other animals) if this would result in a better outcome." "This volume treats the consequentialist challenge to Kantian ethics in several novel ways. To begin with, the utilitarian version of consequentialism is delineated and defended by means of a conceptual device dubbed by the author as the Consequentialist Continuum. Marks then provides an exhaustive and definitive exposition of the relatively neglected Epistemic Objection to utilitarianism. While acknowledging the intuitive appeal of utilitarianism's core conviction - that we should always do what is for the best - Marks argues that this is an impossible injunction to fulfill, or even to attempt to fulfill, because all of the relevant results of our actions can never be known. Kantianism is then introduced as a viable alternative account of our ethical obligations. Marks argues that Kantianism is well within the scope of normal human competence and conforms equally well to our ethical intuitions once the theory's proper interpretation is appreciated. However, Kant's own version must be extended to accommodate the rightful moral consideration we owe to nonhuman animals. Finally, Marks employs the notion of a Consequentialist Illusion to explain utilitarianism's hold on our moral intuitions, while developing a form of Consequentialist Kantianism to address them." "An original and penetrating examination of a central debate in moral philosophy, this book will be of interest to philosophical ethicists, upper-level and graduate philosophy students, and the intellectual reading public."--Jacket.

Sample

Henry E. Allison

"Henry E. Allison presents a comprehensive commentary on Kant's Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (1785). It differs from most recent commentaries in paying special attention to the structure of the work, the historical context in which it was written, and the views to which Kant was responding. Allison argues that, despite its relative brevity, the Groundwork is the single most important work in modern moral philosophy and that its significance lies mainly in two closely related factors. The first is that it is here that Kant first articulates his revolutionary principle of the autonomy of the will, that is, the paradoxical thesis that moral requirements (duties) are self-imposed and that it is only in virtue of this that they can be unconditionally binding. The second is that for Kant all other moral theories are united by the assumption that the ground of moral requirements must be located in some object of the will (the good) rather than the will itself, which Kant terms heteronomy. Accordingly, what from the standpoint of previous moral theories was seen as a fundamental conflict between various views of the good is reconceived by Kant as a family quarrel between various forms of hereronomy, none of which are capable of accounting for the unconditionally binding nature of morality. Allison goes on to argue that Kant expresses this incapacity by claiming that the various forms of heteronomy unavoidably reduce the categorical to a merely hypothetical imperative."--P. [4] of cover.

Sample

Jorge Eduardo Rivera

Serie de ensayos escritos en los que el autor expone algunos puntos fundamentales de la filosofía de Heidegger y de la metafísica de Zubiri, despejando prejuicios construidos en torno a dos filósofos que representan el pensamiento vivo inaugurado por Parménides, Heráclito, Platón y Aristóteles. Al mismo tiempo, deja planteada la posibilidad de explorar los pensamientos de Heidegger que Zubiri asume y transforma estableciendo una conexión entre el concepto heideggeriano de "ser mismo" y el de "realidad" que desarrollará más tarde el filósofo español. El autor es Doctor en Filosofía de la Universidad de Heidelberg, Alemania. Profesor Titular asociado de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

Sample

Willi Goetschel

"Spinoza's Modernity is a major, original work that reconstructs a key moment in the European Enlightenment and offers a ground-breaking reading of the intersection of German literature and philosophy in the latter half of the eighteenth century. Willi Goetschel reassesses the philosophical project of Baruch Spinoza, uncovers his influence on later thinkers, and demonstrates how that crucial influence on Moses Mendelssohn, G.E. Lessing, and Heinrich Heine shaped the development of modern critical thought."--Jacket.