The Highest Good in Kant’s Philosophy / / Thomas Höwing.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter DG Plus eBook-Package 2016
• HerausgeberIn: Höwing, Thomas,
• Place / Publishing House: Berlin ;, Boston : : De Gruyter, , [2016]; ©2016
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (VIII, 286 p.)

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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- Introduction -- Abbreviations and Methods of Reference -- Notes on Contributors -- The Highest Good and the Notion of the Good as Object of Pure Practical Reason -- Kant on ‘Good’, the Good, and the Duty to Promote the Highest Good -- Kant on Happiness and the Duty to Promote the Highest Good -- “Mixtum Compositum”: On the Persistence of Kant’s Dualism in the Doctrine of the Highest Good -- The Determination of the Concept of the Highest Good -- God, the Highest Good, and the Rationality of Faith: Reflections on Kant’s Moral Proof of the Existence of God -- Kant on “Moral Arguments”: What Does the Objectivity of a Postulate of Pure Practical Reason Consist In? -- Kant, Mendelssohn, and Immortality -- Life without Death: Why Kantian Agents Are Committed to the Belief in Their Own Immortality -- Kant on Opinion, Belief, and Knowledge -- Must We Believe in the Realizability of Our Ends? On a Premise of Kant’s Argument for the Postulates of Pure Practical Reason -- Applying the Concept of the Good: The Final End and the Highest Good in Kant’s Third Critique -- “The supersensible … in us, above us and after us”: The Critical Conception of the Highest Good in Kant’s Practico-Dogmatic Metaphysics -- Index of Names -- Subject Index