Naturalism and realism in Kant's ethics / Frederick Rauscher.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rauscher, Frederick, 1961- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Kant, Immanuel, 1724-1804.

Kant, Immanuel.

Ethics.

Naturalism.

Realism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 264 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Other Title:

Naturalism & Realism in Kant's Ethics

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2015.

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Laying the ground

Moral realism and naturalism

The place of ethics in Kant's philosophy

Practical reason in nature

The priority of the practical and the fact of reason

The transcendental status of empirical reason

Morality beyond nature?

God without God: the status of the postulates

From many to one to none: nonnatural free choice

Value and the inexplicability of the practical

Kant's naturalist moral idealism.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 10 Dec 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-316-45219-0

1-316-45507-6

1-316-45555-6

1-316-10525-3

1-316-45603-X

1-316-45843-1

1-316-45651-X