Revisiting Kant's Universal Law and Humanity Formulas
About this book
This book offers new readings of Kant’s “universal law” and “humanity” formulations of the categorical imperative. It shows how, on these readings, the formulas do indeed turn out being alternative statements of the same basic moral law, and in the process responds to many of the standard objections raised against Kant’s theory. Its first chapter briefly explores the ways in which Kant draws on his philosophical predecessors such as Plato (and especially Plato’s Republic) and Jean-Jacque Rousseau. The second chapter offers a new reading of the relation between the universal law and humanity formulas by relating both of these to a third formula of Kant’s, viz. the “law of nature” formula, and also to Kant’s ideas about laws in general and human nature in particular. The third chapter considers and rejects some influential recent attempts to understand Kant’s argument for the humanity formula, and offers an alternative reconstruction instead. Chapter four considers what it is to flourish as a human being in line with Kant’s basic formulas of morality, and argues that the standard readings of the humanity formula cannot properly account for its relation to Kant’s views about the highest human good.
Author / Editor information
Sven Nyholm, University of Cologne, Germany.
Topics
-
Download PDFPublicly Available
Frontmatter
I -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Acknowledgements
VII -
Download PDFPublicly Available
Contents
IX -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
List of Abbreviations
XI -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
1 Introduction: The Human Nature Formula
1 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
2 Reinterpreting the Universal Law Formula
25 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
3 Kant’s Argument for the Humanity Formula
70 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
4 Permissibility, Virtue, and the Highest Good
119 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Bibliography
159 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Index
165
- Manufacturer information:
- Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Genthiner Straße 13
10785 Berlin - productsafety@degruyterbrill.com
