Naturalism and Realism in Kant's Ethics

This book is the first detailed analysis and interpretation of Kant's ethics as anti-realist and idealist.

Frederick Rauscher (Author)

9781107088801, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 November 2015

274 pages
23.7 x 16 x 2.1 cm, 0.55 kg

'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.

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.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX], Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ], Philosophy: metaphysics & ontology [HPJ], Western philosophy: c 1600 to c 1900 [HPCD], Philosophy [HP], History [HB], Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 [DSBF]