Christian Wolff's German Ethics

Christian Wolff's German Ethics
Author:
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 380
Release: 2024-03-26
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0192696572

This volume offers collective exploration of major aspects of Christian Wolff's ethics. It focuses on what is arguably Wolff's most important and influential text on moral philosophy, namely his Rational Thoughts on the Action and Omission of Human Beings for the Promotion of their Happiness, originally published in 1720 and commonly referred to as the German Ethics to distinguish it from his later Latin works on ethics. The contributions cover a range of topics, including the systematic structure of the text itself and the relation between Wolff's ethics and the preceding natural law tradition, and many of the chapters consider the development of the basic tenets of Wolff's moral theory in his later Latin writings. Throughout the volume, special attention is given to the core concepts of Wolff's moral philosophy, such as obligation, perfection, the highest good, and happiness. Other notable topics include Wolff's conception of moral judgment and moral education, as well as the role of psychology and anthropology in his ethical thought. The volume also includes discussion of the influence of Wolff's ethics on subsequent figures such as C.A. Crusius, G.F. Meier, and Kant. As a whole, the volume seeks to show the importance of Wolff's German Ethics within the history of ethics as well as inspire others to engage with his thought.

Baumgarten and Kant on the Foundations of Practical Philosophy

Baumgarten and Kant on the Foundations of Practical Philosophy
Author: Courtney D. Fugate
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2024-07-09
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0192873644

Over the last two decades, scholarship on Kant and modern German philosophy has become increasingly focused on understanding their historical roots. Central to this development is the work of Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten (1714-62), whose textbooks profoundly influenced later generations of German philosophers. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), in particular, lectured from Baumgarten's textbooks, including those on moral and legal philosophy, for well over thirty years. Following the recent English translation of Baumgarten's key works, this volume is the first comprehensive reappraisal of the relationship between his and Kant's thoughts on the grounding principles of moral philosophy. The chapters--all written by leading researchers who have shaped or are now reshaping the field--cover the whole range of key concepts in the foundations of practical philosophy: obligation, law, goodness, motivation, imputation, conscience, the relationship between ethics and right, and many more. Later chapters provide a comparative look at Kant's and Baumgarten's place within the wider tradition of natural law. Scholars familiar with the field will discover new perspectives on well-received findings, while newcomers will find a comprehensive introduction to the key topics and debates of current research.

Moses Mendelssohn and the Enlightenment

Moses Mendelssohn and the Enlightenment
Author: Allan Arkush
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2012-02-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0791495264

Moses Mendelssohn, the author of numerous works on natural theology and ethics, was also the first modern philosopher of Judaism. This book places Mendelssohn's thought within the context of the Leibnizian-Wolffian school, the writings of Kant and Lessing and other major figures of the Enlightenment, and within the age-old tradition of Jewish rationalism. More than any previous treatment of this subject, it questions the extent to which Mendelssohn truly succeeded in reconciling his allegiance to the philosophy of the Enlightenment with his adherence to Judaism.

Encyclopedia of Ethics

Encyclopedia of Ethics
Author: Lawrence C. Becker
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 2016
Release: 2013-10-18
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1135350965

The editors, working with a team of 325 renowned authorities in the field of ethics, have revised, expanded and updated this classic encyclopedia. Along with the addition of 150 new entries, all of the original articles have been newly peer-reviewed and revised, bibliographies have been updated throughout, and the overall design of the work has been enhanced for easier access to cross-references and other reference features. New entries include * Cheating * Dirty hands * Gay ethics * Holocaust * Journalism * Political correctness * and many more.

Encyclopedia of Ethics: P-W

Encyclopedia of Ethics: P-W
Author: Lawrence C. Becker
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 734
Release: 2001
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780415936750

A revised, expanded and updated edition with contributions by 325 renowned authorities in the field of ethics. All of the original articles have been newly peer-reviewed and revised, bibliographies have been updated throughout, and the overall design of the work has been enhanced for easier access to cross-references and other reference features.

The Problem of Being Modern, Or, The German Pursuit of Enlightenment from Leibniz to the French Revolution

The Problem of Being Modern, Or, The German Pursuit of Enlightenment from Leibniz to the French Revolution
Author: Thomas P. Saine
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Total Pages: 388
Release: 1997
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780814326817

In The Problem of Being Modern, Thomas P. Saine provides a lucid introduction to German thought in the eighteenth century and the struggle of Enlightenment philosophers and writers to come to grips with the profound philosophical and theological implications of new scientific developments since the seventeenth century. He concentrates on those points at which the essential modernity and the secular viewpoint of the Enlightenment conflicted with traditional thought structures rooted in the religious world view that governed attitudes and behavior far into the eighteenth century.

Christian Wolff's German Ethics

Christian Wolff's German Ethics
Author: Leader of the Emmy Noether-Research Group Practical Reasons Before Kant (1720-1780) Sonja Schierbaum
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 380
Release: 2024-06-30
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0192869566

This volume offers a collective exploration of the moral philosophy of Christian Wolff, one of the great philosophers of the 18th century. The contributors discuss major themes in Wolff's German Ethics of 1720, showing the importance of this work within the history of ethics and its continuing interest today.

The Radical Enlightenment in Germany

The Radical Enlightenment in Germany
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 430
Release: 2018-07-03
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9004362215

This volume investigates the impact of the Radical Enlightenment on German culture during the eighteenth century, taking recent work by Jonathan Israel as its point of departure. The collection documents the cultural dimension of the debate on the Radical Enlightenment. In a series of readings of known and lesser-known fictional and essayistic texts, individual contributors show that these can be read not only as articulating a conflict between Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment, but also as documents of a debate about the precise nature of Enlightenment. At stake is the question whether the Enlightenment should aim to be an atheist, materialist, and political movement that wants to change society, or, in spite of its belief in rationality, should respect monarchy, aristocracy, and established religion. Contributors are: Mary Helen Dupree, Sean Franzel, Peter Höyng, John A. McCarthy, Monika Nenon, Carl Niekerk, Daniel Purdy, William Rasch, Ann Schmiesing, Paul S. Spalding, Gabriela Stoicea, Birgit Tautz, Andrew Weeks, Chunjie Zhang

The Emergence of Modern Aesthetic Theory

The Emergence of Modern Aesthetic Theory
Author: Simon Grote
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2017-10-26
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1108509118

Broad in its geographic scope and yet grounded in original archival research, this book situates the inception of modern aesthetic theory – the philosophical analysis of art and beauty - in theological contexts that are crucial to explaining why it arose. Simon Grote presents seminal aesthetic theories of the German and Scottish Enlightenments as outgrowths of a quintessentially Enlightenment project: the search for a natural 'foundation of morality' and a means of helping naturally self-interested human beings transcend their own self-interest. This conclusion represents an important alternative to the standard history of aesthetics as a series of preludes to the achievements of Immanuel Kant, as well as a reinterpretation of several canonical figures in the German and Scottish Enlightenments. It also offers a foundation for a transnational history of the Enlightenment without the French philosophes at its centre, while solidly endorsing historians' growing reluctance to call the Enlightenment a secularising movement.