Kant's "Tugendlehre"

Kant's
Author: Andreas Trampota
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 456
Release: 2013-01-30
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3110229870

Building on the results of the Groundwork and the Critique of Practical Reason, Kant finally published his system of moral philosophy in two volumes in 1797. By then, he had been planning to write a Metaphysics of Morals for three decades; but only the title remained unchanged while the basic principles of his theoretical and practical philosophy changed dramatically. While for many years academic moral philosophy focused mainly on Kant’s earlier ethical treatises, there has recently been much interest in this later and perhaps more mature work on moral philosophy, particularly the ethical part of the Metaphysics of Morals, the “Metaphysical Principles of the Doctrine of Virtue” or “Tugendlehre”. The present volume responds to these demands. Following a series of research workshops, 18 scholars from Germany, Italy, Britain and the United States provide a seamless commentary on the “Doctrine of Virtue”, discussing topics such as suicide, truthfulness, moral perfection, beneficence, gratitude, sympathy, respect and friendship as well as Kant’s moral psychology, philosophy of action and theory of moral education. This book will be an invaluable resource for moral philosophers and Kant scholars alike.

Kant's Metaphysics of Morals

Kant's Metaphysics of Morals
Author: Lara Denis
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 285
Release: 2010-10-28
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1139492632

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.

Kant's Doctrine of Virtue

Kant's Doctrine of Virtue
Author: Mark Timmons
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2021
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0190939222

"This book is a reader's guide to Kant's final work in moral philosophy, The Doctrine of Virtue - Part II of the 1797 Metaphysics of Morals. The guide has 5 parts plus a conclusion. Part I "Background" includes two chapters: 1. "Life and Work" and 2. "Philosophical Background." Part II, "General Introduction to the Metaphysics of Morals" covers the introduction to the entire work whose content is crucial for understanding the text. This part contains three chapters: 3. "On the Idea of and Necessity for a Metaphysics of Morals", 4. Mental Faculties, the Moral Law, and Human Motivation," and 5. "Preliminary Concepts and Division of the Metaphysics of Morals." Part III, "Introduction to the Doctrine of Virtue," includes four chapters that cover Kant's dedicated introduction to the Doctrine of Virtue: 6. "The Doctrine of Virtue as a Doctrine of Ends," 7. "General Ends that are also Duties," 8. Radical Evil and the Nature of Virtue," and 9. "The Science of Ethics." Part IV is devoted to Kant's system of duties of virtue that represents his normative ethical theory. It contains five chapters: 10. "Perfect Duties to Oneself as an Animal Being," 11. "Perfect Duties to Oneself as a Moral Being," 12. Imperfect Duties to Oneself," 13. "Duties of Love to Other Human Beings," 14. "The Vices of Hatred and Disrespect," and 15. "Friendship." Part V "The Doctrine of Methods of Ethics and Conclusion" includes chapter 16 "Moral Education and Practice." The book's conclusion reflects on the significance of the Doctrine of Virtue for understanding Kant's ethics"--

Virtue, Rules, and Justice

Virtue, Rules, and Justice
Author: Thomas E. Hill Jr
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages:
Release: 2012-05-31
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0191631299

Thomas E. Hill, Jr., interprets, explains, and extends Kant's moral theory in a series of essays that highlight its relevance to contemporary ethics. The book is divided into four sections. The first three essays cover basic themes: they introduce the major aspects of Kant's ethics; explain different interpretations of the Categorical Imperative; and sketch a 'constructivist' reading of Kantian normative ethics distinct from the Kantian constructivisms of Onora O'Neill and John Rawls. The next section is on virtue, and the essays collected here discuss whether it is a virtue to regard the natural environment as intrinsically valuable, address puzzles about moral weakness, contrast ideas of virtue in Kant's ethics and in 'virtue ethics,' and comment on duties to oneself, second-order duties, and moral motivation in Kant's Doctrine of Virtue. Four essays on moral rules propose human dignity as a guiding value for a system of norms rather than a self-standing test for isolated cases, contrast the Kantian perspectives on moral rules with rule-utilitarianism and then with Jonathan Dancy's moral particularism, and distinguish often-conflated questions about moral relativism. Hill goes on to outline a Kantian position on two central issues. In the last section of the book, three essays on practical questions show how a broadly Kantian theory, if critical of Kant's official theory of law, might re-visit questions about revolution, prison reform, and forcible interventions in other countries for humanitarian purposes. In the final essay, Hill develops the implications of Kant's Doctrine of Virtue for the responsibility of by-standers to oppression.

The Highest Good in Kant’s Philosophy

The Highest Good in Kant’s Philosophy
Author: Thomas Höwing
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2016-04-25
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3110392747

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.

Kant's Ethics of Virtue

Kant's Ethics of Virtue
Author: Monika Betzler
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 309
Release: 2008-12-10
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3110209659

In his Metaphysics of Morals (particularly in the Doctrine of Virtue), but also in other late works, Kant extends and refines the content of his earlier works on ethics (Groundwork and Critique of Practical Reason) to a considerable extent. These revisions and extensions not only show the limitations of an exclusive interpretation of Kant’s ethics as a deontological ethics of principles. His thoughts are also relevant for a large number of questions of theoretical morality currently under discussion. Thus, the distinction drawn in the Doctrine of Virtue between perfect and imperfect obligations informs the problem of the solvability of moral conflicts and the role of supererogatory actions. Kant goes further into the question of what it means to be a good person, what moral significance is contained in close human ties such as friendship, and what role is played by happiness and the so-called obligations towards oneself. The papers each discuss Kant’s central ideas in the context of his earlier writings, but also within the context of our contemporary ethical debates. Thus attention is drawn to the significance and possible extent of an ethics of virtue understood in the Kantian sense.

Autonomy, Moral Worth, and Right

Autonomy, Moral Worth, and Right
Author: Jeffrey Edwards
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2017-11-07
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 311051740X

This book examines the surprising ramifications of Kant’s late account of practical reason’s obligatory ends as well as a revolutionary implication of his theory of property. It thereby sheds new light on Kant’s place in the history of modern moral philosophy.

Duty, Virtue and Practical Reason in Kant's Metaphysics of Morals

Duty, Virtue and Practical Reason in Kant's Metaphysics of Morals
Author: Vicente De Haro Romo
Publisher: Georg Olms Verlag
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2015-08-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3487153483

The “Metaphysical Principles of the Doctrine of Virtue” (Metaphysische Anfangsgründe der Tugendlehre) is the second part of the “Metaphysics of Morals” (Metaphysik der Sitten), published by Kant in 1797. This monographic study comments Kant´s Tugendlehre as a refutation of the “formalist” vision of Kant´s Ethics. This late writing is shown as consistent with the moral philosophy already presented in the “Groundwork” and the second “Critique”. The “Doctrine of Virtue” offers Kant´s application of the categorical imperative and acknowledges the conditions of moral motivation and, in general, of human agency. Kant´s derivation of duties of virtue (Tugendpflichten) is attentive to the fundamental characteristics of human nature, therefore it generates a system of ends that reason itself shows to be obligatory for the human faculty of choice. This book shows that Kant´s “Doctrine of Virtue” is worthy of being taken into a greater philosophical consideration. The “Metaphysical Principles of the Doctrine of Virtue” (Metaphysische Anfangsgründe der Tugendlehre) is the second part of the “Metaphysics of Morals” (Metaphysik der Sitten), published by Kant in 1797. This monographic study comments Kant´s Tugendlehre as a refutation of the “formalist” vision of Kant´s Ethics. This late writing is shown as consistent with the moral philosophy already presented in the “Groundwork” and the second “Critique”. The “Doctrine of Virtue” offers Kant´s application of the categorical imperative and acknowledges the conditions of moral motivation and, in general, of human agency. Kant´s derivation of duties of virtue (Tugendpflichten) is attentive to the fundamental characteristics of human nature, therefore it generates a system of ends that reason itself shows to be obligatory for the human faculty of choice. This book shows that Kant´s “Doctrine of Virtue” is worthy of being taken into a greater philosophical consideration.

Kant and the Metaphors of Reason

Kant and the Metaphors of Reason
Author: Patricia Kauark-Leite
Publisher: Georg Olms Verlag
Total Pages: 619
Release: 2015-08-03
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3487151243

In den vergangenen Jahrzehnten hat die Metapher in der Philosophie zunehmend Beachtung gefunden und wurde zu einem zentralen Thema, mit dem Kant sich in seiner kritischen Philosophie in Begriffen von Analogie und Symbolisierung beschäftigt. Sein Beitrag zur Entwicklung unseres Verständnisses der Rolle, die Bilder, Metaphern und Symbole in theoretischer und praktischer Hinsicht leisten, ist bedeutend; zudem ist Kant selber auch als Schöpfer von Metaphern weithin bekannt. Symbole, Analogien und ästhetische Ideen sind unleugbar metaphorische Verfahren, die eine ebenso grundlegende wie systematische Funktion in Kants philosophischer Sprache einnehmen. – Dieser Sammelband ist das Ergebnis einer neueren Initiative seitens einer internationalen Gruppe von mit Kant befassten Philosophen und Kant-Spezialisten, um die Erforschung von Themen zu befördern, die noch nicht umfassend bearbeitet sind. Das trifft mit Sicherheit auf die „Metapher“-Thematik in Kants Philosophie zu, der der vorliegende Band gewidmet ist. In recent decades, metaphor has become a respectable and central theme in philosophy. In his critical philosophy, Kant treats this theme in terms of the notions of analogy and symbolization. In addition to contributing significantly to the development of our understanding of the role played by images, metaphors and symbols in both theoretical and practical issues, Kant is also widely recognized as a great creator of metaphors in his own right. Symbols, analogies and aesthetic ideas are undeniably metaphorical processes, which fulfill a function in Kant’s philosophical language that is as fundamental as it is systematic. This collected volume is the result of a recent initiative on the part of an international group of Kantian philosophers and scholars to promote research on topics that have yet to be thoroughly explored in academic research. This is certainly true of the topic of metaphor in Kant’s philosophy, to which the present volume is devoted.

Realism and Antirealism in Kant's Moral Philosophy

Realism and Antirealism in Kant's Moral Philosophy
Author: Robinson dos Santos
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2017-12-18
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3110574519

The debate between moral realism and antirealism plays an important role in contemporary metaethics as well as in the interpretation of Kant’s moral philosophy. This volume aims to clarify whether, and in what sense, Kant is a moral realist, an antirealist, or something in-between. Based on an explication of the key metaethical terms, internationally recognized Kant scholars discuss the question of how Kant’s moral philosophy should be understood in this regard. All camps in the metaethical field have their inhabitants: Some contributors read Kant’s philosophy in terms of a more or less robust moral realism, objectivism, or idealism, and some of them take it to be a version of constructivism, constitutionism, or brute antirealism. In any case, all authors introduce and defend their terminology in a clear manner and argue thoughtfully and refreshingly for their positions. With contributions of Stefano Bacin, Jochen Bojanowski, Christoph Horn, Patrick Kain, Lara Ostaric, Fred Rauscher, Oliver Sensen, Elke Schmidt, Dieter Schönecker, and Melissa Zinkin.