Kant's Moral Metaphysics: God, Freedom, and Immortality

by Benjamin Bruxvoort Lipscomb (Editor), James Krueger (Editor)

Overview

Morality has traditionally been understood to be tied to certain metaphysical beliefs: notably, in the freedom of human persons (to choose right or wrong courses of action), in a god (or gods) who serve(s) as judge(s) of moral character, and in an afterlife as the locus of a “final judgment” on individual behavior. Some scholars read the history of moral philosophy as a gradual disentangling of our moral commitments from such beliefs. Kant is often given an important place in their narratives, despite the fact that Kant himself asserts that some of such beliefs are necessary (necessary, at least, from the practical point of view). Many contemporary neo-Kantian moral philosophers have embraced these “disentangling” narratives or, at any rate, have minimized the connection of Kant’s practical philosophy with controversial metaphysical commitments ‑ even with Kant’s transcendental idealism. This volume re-evaluates those interpretations. It is arguably the first collection to systematically explore the metaphysical commitments central to Kant’s practical philosophy, and thus the connections between Kantian ethics, his philosophy of religion, and his epistemological claims concerning our knowledge of the supersensible.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783110220032
Publisher:	De Gruyter
Publication date:	06/15/2010
Pages:	340
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.06(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Benjamin J. Bruxvoort Lipscomb, Houghton College, and James Krueger, University of Redlands, USA.

Table of Contents

Note on Texts vii

Introduction 1

Section I Moral Motivation, Moral Metaphysics

1 Reality, Reason, and Religion in the Development of Kant's Ethics Karl Ameriks 23

2 Moral Imperfection and Moral Phenomenology in Kant Benjamin Lipscomb 49

Section II Interpreting Freedom

3 Two Standpoints and the Problem of Moral Anthropology Patrick Frierson 83

4 In Search of the Phenomenal Face of Freedom Jeanine Grenberg 111

Section III The Highest Good

5 Something to Love: Kant and the Faith of Reason David Sussman 133

6 Duties, Ends and the Divine Corporation James Krueger 149

Section IV Epistemology and the Supersensible

7 Real Repugnance and Belief about Things-in-Themselves: a Problem and Kant's Three Solutions Andrew Chignell 177

8 Practical Cognition, Intuition, and the Fact of Reason Patrick Kain 211

Section V Epistemology and Religion

9 Kant's Reidianism: The Role of Common Sense in Kant's Epistemology of Religious Belief Lee Hardy 233

10 Kant on the Hiddenness of God Eric Watkins 255

11 Kant's Account of Practical Fanaticism Rachel Zuckert 291

References 319

Index 333