The Blackwell Guide to Kant's Ethics: (Blackwell Guides to Great Works)

THE BLACKWELL GUIDE TO KANT’S Ethics

THE BLACKWELL GUIDES TO great Works

“Hill has edited an excellent set of essays by both well-established and younger Kant scholars, each of which insightfully discusses fundamental themes and arguments in Kant’s moral philosophy. This collection not only contributes importantly to ongoing scholarship, but it will serve as a perfect companion to upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses that feature Kant’s ethics.”
Mark Timmons, University of Arizona

Late in the eighteenth century, Immanuel Kant published several influential works of moral philosophy, writings that even his staunchest critics acknowledge represent the efforts of one of the most profound thinkers of the modern age.

Reflecting the philosopher’s increasing stature and a resurgence in innovative scholarship, The Blackwell Guide to Kant’s Ethics presents a collection of original essays that address a wide variety of topics crucial to our understanding of Kant’s moral philosophy and its implications. The essays’ broad range of ideas is ensured through contributions by both well-established Kant scholars and rising stars in the field. Readings serve to illuminate and put into perspective issues that Kant addressed in his later writings, including his idea of a good will and formulations of the Categorical Imperative, along with his concepts of virtue, duties to oneself, justice, punishment, and international relations. Further insights are garnered through extensive introductory commentary by the editor that put the essays in context. And in an original concluding essay, noted Kant scholar Arnulf Zweig shares some personal reflections on the enduring value of Kant’s ethics.

Informed by impeccable scholarship, The Blackwell Guide to Kant’s Ethics is a thought-provoking new work that will enhance our understanding of Kant’s ethical theories while offering provocative insights into the mind of one of the most influential thinkers in the history of Western philosophy.

Notes on Contributors

Abbreviations of Kant’s Works

Introduction: Thomas E. Hill, Jr.

Part I: Basic Themes:

1. Good Will and the Moral Worth of Acts from Duty: Robert N. Johnson (the University of Missouri)

2. The Universal Law Formulas: Richard Galvin (Texas Christian University)

3. The Formula of Humanity as an End in Itself: Richard Dean (the American University of Beirut)

4. Autonomy and the Kingdom of Ends: Sarah Holtman (the University of Minnesota)

Part II: Argument and Critique:

5. Deriving the Supreme Moral Principle from Common Moral Ideas: Samuel J. Kerstein (the University of Maryland)

6. Why Kant Needs the Second-Person Standpoint: Stephen Darwall (Yale University)

Part III: Justice: Private, Public, and International Right:

7. Kant on Law and Justice: Arthur Ripstein (the University of Toronto)

8. Kant on Punishment: Nelson Potter (the University of Nebraska-Lincoln)

9. Kant’s Vision of a Just World Order: Thomas Pogge (Yale University; the Oslo University Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature (CSMN))

Part IV: Virtue: Love, Respect, and Duties to Oneself:

10. Beneficence and Other Duties of Love in The Metaphysics of Morals: Marcia Baron (Indiana University) and Melissa Seymour Fahmy (the University of Georgia)

11. Duties to Oneself, Duties of Respect to Others: Allen Wood (Indiana University)

Part V: Retrospective:

12. Reflections on the Enduring Value of Kant’s Ethics: Arnulf Zweig (City University of New York)

Index

Thomas E. Hill, Jr. is Kenan Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His essays on moral and political philosophy are collected in Autonomy and Self-Respect (1991), Dignity and Practical Reason in Kant’s Moral Theory (1992), Respect Pluralism, and Justice: Kantian Perspectives (2000), and Human Welfare and Moral Worth: Kantian Perspectives (2002). With Arnulf Zweig he co-edited a new edition of Kant’s Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals with extensive notes (2002).