The Form of Practical Knowledge: A Study of the Categorical Imperative

by Stephen Engstrom

Overview

Immanuel Kant’s claim that the categorical imperative of morality is based in practical reason has long been a source of puzzlement and doubt, even for sympathetic interpreters. Kant’s own explanations, which mainly concern his often-criticized formula of universal law, are laconic and obscure, leading interpreters to dismiss them in favor of less ambitious claims involving his other famous formulas.

In The Form of Practical Knowledge, Stephen Engstrom provides an illuminating new interpretation of the categorical imperative, arguing that we have exaggerated and misconceived Kant’s break with tradition: Kant never departs from the classical conception of practical reason as a capacity for knowledge of the good. His distinctive contribution is the idea that morality’s imperatives express the form of such knowledge.

By developing an account of practical knowledge that situates Kant’s ethics within his broader epistemology and rethinks numerous topics in his moral psychology and in his account of practical reason (including desire, intention, choice, will, as well as pleasure, happiness, and the good), Engstrom’s work promises to deepen and to reshape our understanding of Kantian ethics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674032873
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	04/27/2009
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	278
Sales rank:	823,353
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Stephen Engstrom is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh.

Table of Contents

• Preface
• Note on Citations
• Introduction

Part I. Willing as Practical Knowing

1. The Will and Practical Judgment
2. Fundamental Practical Judgments: The Wish for Happiness

Part II. From Presuppositions of Judgment to the Idea of a Categorical Imperative

1. The Formal Presuppositions of Practical Judgment
2. Constraints on Willing

Part III. Interpretation

1. The Categorical Imperative
2. Applications
3. Conclusion

• Epilogue
• Index

What People are Saying About This

Stephen Engstrom provides a highly original interpretation of the categorical imperative as the criterion of rational knowledge and action. In focusing on the general formula and the law-of-nature variant, and trying to make them work, the book presents a welcome counterweight to currently fashionable interpretations that dismiss these formulations in favour of the second variation, commonly called the "formula of humanity."

Jens Timmermann

Stephen Engstrom provides a highly original interpretation of the categorical imperative as the criterion of rational knowledge and action. In focusing on the general formula and the law-of-nature variant, and trying to make them work, the book presents a welcome counterweight to currently fashionable interpretations that dismiss these formulations in favour of the second variation, commonly called the "formula of humanity."
— Jens Timmermann, University of St Andrews

Editorial Reviews

Stephen Engstrom provides a highly original interpretation of the categorical imperative as the criterion of rational knowledge and action. In focusing on the general formula and the law-of-nature variant, and trying to make them work, the book presents a welcome counterweight to currently fashionable interpretations that dismiss these formulations in favour of the second variation, commonly called the "formula of humanity."

Jens Timmermann