Dignity and Practical Reason in Kant's Moral Theory / / Thomas E. Hill.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Cornell University Press Archive Pre-2000
• VerfasserIn: Hill, Thomas E.,
• Place / Publishing House: Ithaca, NY : : Cornell University Press, , [2019]; ©1992
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (264 p.)

In this collection of eleven papers, Thomas E. Hill, Jr., addresses the most central and difficult concepts in Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, as well as more specific moral issues drawn from his later ethical writings. Among the topics Hill discusses are hypothetical and categorical imperatives, formulas of the supreme moral principle, autonomy and practical reason, and the argument for the rationality of moral commitment. He is also concerned with types of duty, theory of punishment, moral responses to terrorism, and relations between Kant's moral theory and John Rawls's theory of justice.Hill treats Kant's work respectfully and constructively, while maintaining a degree of judicious doubt. Rather than belaboring familiar objections, he tries to interpret and reconstruct central ideas as worthy of contemporary attention although often in need of revision and development. Explaining difficult texts clearly without oversimplifying Kant 's distinctive message, he presents a broad view of Kant's basic ideas of autonomy, practical reason, moral legislation, and the aims of moral theory.A major statement on Kant's moral thought, this outstanding collection will be rewarding reading for professional philosophers, teachers of Kant's ethics, and students, as well as political theorists.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Sources and Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations for Kant’s Works -- Introduction -- 1. The Hypothetical Imperative -- 2. Humanity as an End in Itself -- 3. The Kingdom of Ends -- 4. Kant’s Utopianism -- 5. The Kantian Conception of Autonomy -- 6. Kant’s Argument for the Rationality of Moral Conduct -- 7. Kant’s Theory of Practical Reason -- 8. Kant on Imperfect Duty and Supererogation -- 9. Kant’s Anti-Moralistic Strain -- 10. Making Exceptions without Abandoning the Principle: or How a Kantian Might Think about Terrorism -- 11. Kantian Constructivism in Ethics -- Index