'Rauscher offers a well-informed and well-argued discussion of two central issues in Kant's ethics, claiming him to be a metaphysical naturalist and a moral idealist. Both views are highly controversial, and Rauscher's contribution to the debate is bound to attract further debate and discussion for some time to come.' Robert Stern, University of Sheffield

'Frederick Rauscher's Naturalism and Realism in Kant's Ethics defends a bold interpretation of Kant, one that moves Kant still further in the direction of naturalism that other recent Anglophone interpreters of Kant have advocated, but one that also does justice to his idealist roots. Given Kant's continuing influence in nearly every area of philosophy, this is also an interpretation that will warrant careful study from a wide readership.' Robert Louden, University of Southern Maine

'This is a book that breaks new ground and is worthy of attention.' Jeanine M. Grenberg, Journal of the History of Philosophy

In this comprehensive assessment of Kant's metaethics, Frederick Rauscher shows that Kant is a moral idealist rather than a moral realist and argues that Kant's ethics does not require metaphysical commitments that go beyond nature. Rauscher frames the argument in the context of Kant's non-naturalistic philosophical method and the character of practical reason as action-oriented. Reason operates entirely within nature, and apparently non-natural claims - God, free choice, and value - are shown to be heuristic and to reflect reason's ordering of nature. The book shows how Kant hesitates between a transcendental moral idealism with an empirical moral realism and a complete moral idealism. Examining every aspect of Kant's ethics, from the categorical imperative to freedom and value, this volume argues that Kant's focus on human moral agency explains morality as a part of nature. It will appeal to academic researchers and advanced students of Kant, German idealism and intellectual history.
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Citations of Kant's writings; Introduction; Part I. Laying the Ground: 1. Moral realism and naturalism; 2. The place of ethics in Kant's philosophy; Part II. Practical Reason in Nature: 3. The priority of the practical and the fact of reason; 4. The transcendental status of empirical reason; Part III. Morality beyond Nature?: 5. 'God' without God: the status of the postulates; 6. From many to one to none: non-natural free choice; 7. Value and the inexplicability of the practical; Postscript: Kant's naturalist moral idealism; Works cited; Index.
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This book is the first detailed analysis and interpretation of Kant's ethics as anti-realist and idealist.

Product details

ISBN
9781107088801
Published
2015-11-26
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Weight
550 gr
Height
237 mm
Width
160 mm
Thickness
21 mm
Age
P, 06
Language
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Number of pages
274

Biographical note

Frederick Rauscher is Professor of Philosophy at Michigan State University. He is the editor and co-translator of Kant: Lectures and Drafts on Political Philosophy (with Kenneth R. Westphal, Cambridge, 2015), co-translator of Notes and Fragments (with Paul Guyer and Curtis Bowman, Cambridge, 2005), and editor of Kant in Brazil (2012).