Kant's Search for the Supreme Principle of Morality
Cambridge University Press, 5/2/2002
EAN 9780521810890, ISBN10: 0521810892
Hardcover, 242 pages, 22.8 x 15.8 x 2.2 cm
Language: English
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.
Acknowledgments
Key to abbreviations and translations
Introduction
derivation, deduction, and the supreme principle of morality
1. Fundamental concepts in Kant's theory of agency
2. Transcendental freedom and the derivation of the formula of universal law
3. The derivation of the formula of humanity
4. The derivation of the formula of universal law
a criterial reading
5. Criteria for the supreme principle of morality
6. Duty and moral worth
7. Eliminating rivals to the categorical imperative
8. Conclusions
Kant's candidates for the supreme principle of morality
Notes
Index.