Book Description
With an Introduction by renowned Kant scholar Allen W. Wood, this is the only available one-volume edition of the essential works of the Enlightenment's greatest philosopher and one of the most influential thinkers of modern times. Containing carefully selected excerpts from his most frequently taught essays and book-length publications, including Critique of Pure Reason, Critique of Judgment, and Eternal Peace, the Basic Writings of Kant is an indispensable collection. This revised edition was edited by Carl J. Friedrich. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Kant the philosophical revolutionary
This is an excellent survey of Kant's groundbreaking constributions to epistemology and moral philosophy. I would, however, support Karl Popper's observation that the best way to understand the transcendental idealism of Kant is to first study Schopenhauer. An ideal introduction to Schopenhauer (and Kant) is Bryan Magee's 'The Philosophy of Schopenhauer'. Then read Schopenhauer's 'On the Fourfold Root of Principle of Sufficient Reason', and then his 'The World as Will and Representation'. Schopenhauer is a peerless prose stylist and conceptual architect and he explains the philosophy of Kant (and it's limitations) better than Kant does himself. Once you have familiarised yourself with Schopenhauer, Kant's comparatively opaque and desultory prose (with occasional flashes of brilliance) is readily accessible. Kant's staggering intellectual achievement in moving beyond the apparent epistemological dead end of Hume is sufficient motivation for making the effort to read the Critique of Pure Reason. In the other works in this volume Kant developed his (in my view)flawed moral philosophy, based as it is on the supposed sovereignty of reason over the will - with its famous 'catagorical imperative'. While this is less impressive than his epistemology, it is still interesting and well worth reading. The translations offered here are clear and the selections from Kant's works are judicious. Altogether a great book at a great price, which will richly reward the serious reader.

An effective compilation, with all of the essays necessary for a basic understanding of Kant.
With a thourough reading of this text, it is entirely possible to extract, not just the jist, but a fundamental understanding of the philosophy of Kant.Although it is true that no compilation of writings, which is forced to express the ideas of a philosopher such as Kant in a manageable way, can provide an understanding required for a masters or doctoral thesis, the Basic Writings of Kant is translated in such a way and contains the necessary essays for higher-level undergraduate understanding.

By examining the development of Kant's ideas throughout each essay, it is possible to understand the unity of metaphysical, empirical, and moral concepts in a digestable and useful way.Although one may see fault in Kant's philosophy regarding any of these facets, this text provides the means for an understanding of Kant's philosopy and solid ground by which to dispute his ideas.

One distinction, which might be useful in reading this text, is to note that the essay "Critique of Practical Reason" is better understood as the "Critique of (Pure) Practical Reason". It should be understood that Kant felt that the boundaries in whichboth practical and theoretical reason, lie is within the limits of the mind itself.

Also, regarding Kant's chauvinism, a close reading of "What Is Englightenment?", might shed some light on those who seem to have heard what they wanted to hear in his referrence to the "fairer sex".Aside from that passage, I can not actually think of another example of his even mentioning gender differences.Feel free to correct me, if you can provide me with some new information, or something that I've forgotten.

An Easy to Read Selection of Kant Writings
My review is more by accident then intentional logging on to write a review.While surfing around, I stumbled here to check out a couple of reviews and noticed some with astonishing errors; either due to a lack of writing a detailed review or just not understanding Kant's ideas.The problem may also lie in that anthologies don't carry the full selection of a person's arguments (although with one reviewer it is just an obvious case of silly ignorant ramblings)

Wood's book is readable and it is true that Kant is never an easy read, but neither are most Prussian Philosophers of the same era.

Whatever Kant's metaphysical faults are, he is not a relativist, but tried, although many have asserted unsuccessfully, to construct an objective moral framework on reason alone (although Kant did believe in God and asserted that the Christian religion was the closet to a true objective construct; however, that is precisely the problem of anthologies, because all they do is give one a snap shot of someone's work.Further, Kant asserted God as a practical necessity if humans were going to reach the highest good (summum bonum).

Lastly, is trying to limit the role of reason to make room for faith.He limits knowledge by demonstrating that reason belongs in the empirical realm (phenomenal) and the things-in-itself are actually in the noumenal world beyond the reach of the senses.For someone as lengthy as Kant, short reviews cannot do justice.If one gets this book, then they should also get "The Cambridge Companion to Kant" also sold on Amazon and edited by Kant scholar Guyer.

Good anthology.
This section of Immanuel Kant met my needs. It had the selections ofKant's writings that I needed, and all under one volume.I congratulate the editors for including references to the original works in the margins. This makes their edition useful as a stepping stone for studying the larger books.

As to the translation, it was readable, which is the best that can be expected from Kant.The Prussian philosopher is notorious fro his run on sentence, subordinate and sub-subordinate clauses, and abstruseness.He would give Strunk and White a heart-attack.With this caveat, I found the translation a readable as humanly possible.

*

Since this review is about the book, rather than the content of Kant's philosophy, I will not extensively comment on it.With his "Critique of Pure Reason," Kant asserts that our mind affects our perceptions.In other words, reason is in doubt. This statement is self-contradictory, and therefore invalid. If we doubt our minds, then we must doubt the conclusion that we doubt our minds, since our mind reached this conclusion.

Kant is the father of modern skepticism, and the godfather of relativism.As demonstrated, relativism is an incoherent, and therefore unlivable philosophy.Thank you, Immanuel!

Secondly, his "categorical imperative" is ineffective.He appeals to duty, but duty is not an irreducible primary.The duty is always in relation to either self, to others, or to God.Secondly, duty is merely a means, but it is not an end in itself.What is the "telos" of duty?No explanation.

The Misogynist's Handbook
Was that one star or five?Hmm... we'll meet in the middle.

Kant's writings are an excellent source for anyone who aspires to eurocentric, caucasian male chauvinism.

He's an even better read for anyone wanting to dispute such a perogative. ... Read more

Book Description
Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason is one of the most rewarding and difficult of all philosophical works. Norman Kemp Smith's translation is immensely valuable, not simply because he rendered Kant's language into readable English, but also because his own extensive understanding of the Critique made him acutely aware of the pitfalls of translation. This text is that of the second edition of 1787, with an additional translation of all first edition passages which in the second edition were either altered or omitted. For this reissue of Norman Kemp Smith's classic 1929 edition, Howard Caygill has contributed a new Preface, setting this translation into the context both of Kemp Smith's own life and work, and of his influence on Kant scholarship. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Useful & reliable edition
I'm writing only to add some mundane notes about this edition: 1) Kemp's translation is readable but consistently precise and fairly well annotated; 2) The paperback binding holds up well, particularly for a 700 page text; and 3) The text includes a detailed index -- this, at least in my experience, has been indispensable. A fabulous edition, particularly given the price.

Standard translation of landmark text
Norman Kemp Smith's translation seems to be one of the standard English translations of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. Is it the best? I don't speak German, but it's certainly serviceable.

This is a daunting work. It's also a necessary work, inasmuch as any understand of contemporary thought and intellectual history must encounter it. Kant has influenced nearly every major school of thought and cultural trend for the last 200 years. Below, I'll try to sketch his thought in this Critique.

This is the story of Immanuel Kant, who found philosophy a mess and sought to fix it. Specifically, he was a former Rationalist who was disconcerted by the critique of British Empiricism (specifically the skeptical philosophy of David Hume). He sought to provide a grounding for the truths of empirical science and mathematics, establish the possibility of religious faith and practice, while at the same time avoid dogmatism in metaphysical reasoning.

How did he seek to do this? By establishing a critique of reason whereby he understands the validity of all mental constructs. Kant distinguish between judgments which are a priori (prior to experience) and a posteriori (arising out of experience), and judgments which are "analytic" (trivial, tautological) and "synthetic" (where the predicate adds something that is not contained within the subject). Are synthetic a priori judgments possible? Kant answers yes, and much of this book deals with what follows from that.

First Kant deals with how we have sense experience. He claims that space and time are necessary a priori conditions for sense experience -- not physical things in the world. The content of our experience is sense-data: raw sensation that arises outside ourselves or inside ourselves and is "given" in experience. The forms in which we construct that experience are space and time.
Sensations, organized within us spatially and temporally yields sense experience (perceptions).

Kant then proceeds to our abstract thought. What he terms "Understanding" has pure, a priori concepts according to logical form. He calls these "Categories." These do NOT arise as a mere empirical habit/convention -- they are prior to experience and are necessary forms that allow rational beings to experience the world intelligibly. Thus, we take the raw givens of our Understanding, which are perceptions (which we dealt with under "Transcendental Aesthetic"), and we impose the categories upon these perceptions -- we "schematize" our experience.
Perceptions, given intelligible form according to schemata, yield intelligible concepts. We are justified in doing this because the perceptions are not things-in-themselves, but mere appearances (phenomena), and in order for these phenomena to exist in an experience that is coherent and consistent for us, they must have these forms. We are NOT justified in applying these categories to things-in-themselves (noumena).

This is where Reason eats itself. It tries to do the same thing the understanding did, but now it does this with respect to the big metaphysical questions. It starts with concepts and attempts to unify all phenomenal experience according to concepts and yield the Ideas of Pure Reason. When it does this, it gets all confuzelled. It tries to deal with 3 Big Problems (Kant uses the term "dialectic"):

* Soul - Reason wants to insist that the thinking soul exists, that it is subject (pure substance), that it is simple, and that it is unchangeable through all its activities. These are the Paralogisms of Pure Reason. We need these ideas -- their contraries are unthinkable for us(?), but these are not demonstrable.
* The World - Reason wants to answer questions about the series of appearances that constitute the world: Is the World limited or unlimited in space and time? Is the world made up of simples or composites? Does freedom exist in the world? Is there a necessary being connected with the world? These are the Antinomies of Pure Reason. Unlike the Paralogisms, these questions admit of contradictory answers. They, too, cannot be adjudicated by pure reason.
* God - Reason wants to demonstrate the existence of God. Kant refers to this as the Ideal of Pure Reason. He claims that all arguments demonstating God's existence in fact, despite outward appearances, depend upon one method, the "ontological" proof of God's existence, which Kant disallows as transempirical.

Kant tries to tell us how to employ reason. First, stop arguing speculatively about God, etc.! But he urges us to apply those metaphysical ideas must be employed in practical (moral) contexts. In this, he anticipates the Victorians, who were somewhat skeptical on matters of faith, but stressed the necessity of continuing to act according to traditional morality. The dialectic problems deals with ideas are not verifiable speculatively. They are not constitutive of experience. Rather, they serve a regulative function, specifically in the practical realm of morality.

Kant claims that reason is architectonic: it naturally wants to assume the greatest generality. Kant says this is fine for moral thinking, but bad for speculative thinking.

Kant says that philosophy answers these questions: "What can I know? What ought I to do? What may I hope for?" The bulk of Critique of Pure Reason answers the first question. The Critique of Practical Reason, Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, Metaphysic of Morals, etc., answer the second question. The third question ties the two together -- this is what Kant deals with at the end of the first Critique.

Kant sees the great transendental ideas as being God, Immortality, and Freedom. They are the starting points of theistic religion (e.g. Christianity and Judaism). These can neither be verified nor disproved by speculative reason (since speculative reason must by its nature deal with givens (Latin, data) either from sense-experience or pure intuition (as in mathematics). These ideas, however, are necessary "regulative" ideas for the guidance of practical (moral reason) and are valid in that connection. Thus, the second Critique answers the question "What ought I to do?" by recourse to the transcendal idea of Freedom. The question, "what may I hope for?", is given response through the transcendental ideas of God and immortality, for if God does not exist, nothing can grant us happiness for moral behavior and unhappiness for immoral behavior, and if we're not immortal, God won't have anyone to reward.

I probably have made errors and inaccuracies in the above, but I hope I give a flavor for his thought. Kant is sober, earnest, and disciplined. Again, he's not easy, but I think he's worth the effort.

A foundation stone for modern philosophy
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is considered one of the giants of philosophy, of his age or any other. It is largely this book that provides the foundation of this assessment. Whether one loves Kant or hates him (philosophically, that is), one cannot really ignore him; even when one isn't directly dealing with Kantian ideas, chances are great that Kant is made an impact.

Kant was a professor of philosophy in the German city of Konigsberg, where he spent his entire life and career. Kant had a very organised and clockwork life - his habits were so regular that it was considered that the people of Konigsberg could set their clocks by his walks. The same regularity was part of his publication history, until 1770, when Kant had a ten-year hiatus in publishing. This was largely because he was working on this book, the 'Critique of Pure Reason'.

Kant as a professor of philosophy was familiar with the Rationalists, such as Descartes, who founded the Enlightenment and in many ways started the phenomenon of modern philosophy. He was also familiar with the Empiricist school (John Locke and David Hume are perhaps the best known names in this), which challenged the rationalist framework. Between Leibniz' monads and Hume's development of Empiricism to its logical (and self-destructive) conclusion, coupled with the Romantic ideals typified by Rousseau, the philosophical edifice of the Enlightenment seemed about to topple.

Kant rode to the rescue, so to speak. He developed an idea that was a synthesis of Empirical and Rationalist ideas. He developed the idea of a priori knowledge (that coming from pure reasoning) and a posterior knowledge (that coming from experience) and put them together into synthetic a priori statements as being possible. Knowledge, for Kant, comes from a synthesis of pure reason concepts and experience. Pure thought and sense experience were intertwined. However, there were definite limits to knowledge. Appearance/phenomenon was different from Reality/noumena - Kant held that the unknowable was the 'ding-an-sich', roughly translated as the 'thing-in-itself', for we can only know the appearance and categorial aspects of things.

Kant was involved heavily in scientific method, including logic and mathematical methods, to try to describe the various aspects of his development. This is part of what makes Kant difficult reading for even the most dedicated of philosophy students and readers. He spends a lot of pages on logical reasoning, including what makes for fallacious and faulty reasoning. He also does a good deal of development on the ideas of God, the soul, and the universe as a whole as being essentially beyond the realm of this new science of metaphysics - these are not things that can be known in terms of the spatiotemporal realm, and thus proofs and constructs about them in reason are bound to fail.

Kant does go on to attempt to prove the existence of God and the soul (and other things) from moral grounds, but that these cannot be proved in the scientific methodology of his metaphysics and logic. This book presents Kant's epistemology and a new concept of metaphysics that involves transcendental knowledge, a new category of concepts that aims to prove one proposition as the necessary presupposition of another. This becomes the difficulty for later philosophers, but it does become a matter that needs to be addressed by them.

As Kant writes at the end of the text, 'The critical path alone is still open. If the reader has had the courtesy and patience to accompany me along this path, he may now judge for himself whether, if he cares to lend his aid in making this path into a high-road, it may not be possible to achieve before the end of the present century what many centuries have not been able to accomplish; namely, to secure for human reason complete satisfacton in regard to that with which it has all along so eagerly occupied itself, though hitherto in vain.' This is heavy reading, but worthwhile for those who will make the journey with Kant.


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Book Description
Immanuel Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals ranks alongside Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics as one of the most profound and influential works in moral philosophy ever written. In Kant's own words its aim is to search for and establish the supreme principle of morality, the categorical imperative. This edition presents the acclaimed translation of the text by Mary Gregor, together with an introduction by Christine M. Korsgaard that examines and explains Kant's argument. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

One of the best books ever written.
If you want to read a book of significance, look no further.While it may be a difficult read it is one of the most influential and important books ever written.

A Cornerstone in Thinking about Ethics
There were only 9 reviews on this book . . . what can one say. . .either something brings you to this book or it does not. . .if you are reading these reviews, then buy it.

This book is one of the most important and influential works on ethics.It is dense, not an easy read, the structure is loose and troublesome at times, but it is groundbreaking and brilliant.

There are many internet resources to guide you along the reading,. so do not be intimidated.Much of future work will rest on the contributions by Kant.

great introduction, expensive version
This version of the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals provides a clear and concise introduction. You will find it useful to understand how Kant's moral philosophy fits within his general philosophy and to get acquainted with some of the debates around his work. Although this book is rather expensive for what it is, it is useful and worth buying if you are really interested in this topic.

Cornerstone of Modern Ethical Thinking
'Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals' by Immanuel Kant is easily the most important work devoted exclusively to thinking about morality in the history of Philosophy, especially considering it's size.

The cornerstone of the work, and the end result of Kant's analysis is the categorical imperative which says that a moral law are only those for which you can state should be true of all people.

In one fell swoop, Kant marginalizes all thinking about relativism in morality and at the same time distinguishes moral from religious thinking.

If you pair this up with St. Paul's statements in his letter to the Romans (3:19-28) which states strongly that adherance to the law has virtually nothing to do with salvation, it should make things pretty clear to all concerned.

Unfortunately, things are rarely that simple. As important as Kant's conclusion is, it is necessary but not sufficient for a complete analysis of morality.

One excuse may be that this work is really Kant's version of 'Cliff Notes' to his moral argument. His full presentation comes in the 'Critique of Practical Reason', which, however, is not often read.

Note that contrary to another review of this edition, the translator and commentator is the noted Kant scholar of 70 years ago, H. J. Paton.

To people who are not used to reading philosophy, I will not hide the fact that Kant is tough going. He may not be quite as tough as Hegel, the Existentialists, or the ancient Greeks, but he is definitely harder to understand than any modern nonfiction book I can think of.

The biggest argument against the 'Groundwork' and the categorical imperative is usually the fact that it does not rule out trivial rules, such as 'you must always eat a starch at least once a day'. This rule is physically possible for anyone living anywhere in the world, yet it is certainly not a moral law. It is not even a very good dietary law, but that's neither here nor there. A second argument is that Kant's argument seems a bit circular, when he says that the only thing which unqualifiedly good is a good will.

For anyone who has been vexed by moral questions, an honest reading of this work will at the very least give you hope that with the right amount of thought, one can make sense of moral issues.

A truly great book.

It is Imperative to read this...
As translator H.J. Paton states in his introduction, 'Kant's "Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals" is one of the small books which are truly great' despite the unapproachability of the title.Many rank this book alongside Aristotle's 'Ethics' and Plato's 'Republic'.Its main topic is the supremacy of morals and moral action, and Paton gives a section by section analysis of Kant's book.The purpose of this work is not to work out all of the implications and difficulties with the a priori part of ethics, but rather to set a foundation of the supreme principle of morality.

The centerpiece of the Groundwork is Kant's most famous proposition, the Categorical Imperative.While this is often equated with the Golden Rule (do unto others as you would have them do unto you), the Categorical Imperative argues for a more universal set of moral action - for example, if one does not mind being lied to, then lying does not become a problem, according to the Golden Rule, but for Kant, this would be unacceptable as it is a violation of the rational principles of what morals are.

Kant proceeds to look at issues of law, duty, free will and the good will, and autonomy of action.Kant argues strongly for the need for philosophy to guard against whim, taste and personal desire from becoming normative agents in the way we construct the moral universe.He argue for objective principles to govern the will, and categorises these as either hypothetical or categorical.'All imperatives command either hypothetically or categorically.Hypothetical imperatives declare a possible action to be practically necessary as a means to the attainment of something else that one wills (or that one may will).A categorical imperative would be one which represented an action as objectively necessary in itself apart from its relation to a further end.'

Kant goes from this discussion to the formulation of universal law and the way in which rational agents should formulate and view this kind of law.The final section of this work introduces ideas that will be more fully developed in Kant's 'Critique of Practical Reason', the second of his three-volume Critiques.He also covers some of the arguments from 'Critique of Pure Reason', but not very fully; as Paton states in his analysis, 'Kant cannot assume the elaborate arguments of the "Critique of Pure Reason" to be familiar to his readers nor can he attempt to repeat these elaborate arguments in a short treatise on ethics.'The finite, rational person must regard himself or herself both as a member of the world of experience/perception and also as a member of the world of ideas/rationality.This is the essence of the Empiricist/Rationalist split that Kant synthesises together in the first Critique.

This is not easy going - the original 'Groundwork' had 128 pages, contained here in less than 100 (allowing for type-face differences as well as translation).Paton's version has 40 pages of analysis, endnotes, an index, and a statement about the translation - it is the 40 pages of analysis, keyed to section-by-section sequence, that makes this a very useful edition.This is perhaps the best first text of Kant to read to get a sense of his style, thought, and the foundation of what has become known as his most important principle.
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Book Description
When originally published in 1960, this was the first complete English translation since 1799 of Kant's early work on aesthetics. More literary than philosophical, Observations shows Kant as a man of feeling rather than the dry thinker he often seemed to readers of the three Critiques. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Spooky
Kant in his 'weird' stage. Very odd ideas in this book- even for Kant. It will not make many reading lists for philosophy courses, but it is still a great read if you love Kant. ... Read more

Book Description
This is the most complete English edition of Kant's correspondence that has ever been compiled. The letters are concerned with philosophical and scientific topics but many also treat personal, historical, and cultural matters. On one level the letters chart Kant's philosophical development. On another level they expose quirks and foibles, and reveal a good deal about Kant's friendships and philosophical battles with some of the prominent thinkers of the time: Herder, Hamann, Mendelssohn, and Fichte. ... Read more

Book Description
This edition of Prolegomena includes Kant's letter of February, 1772 to Marcus Herz, a momentous document in which Kant relates the progress of his thinking and announces that he is now ready to present a critique of pure reason. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Incredibly Helpful in Understanding Kant's Critique of Pure Reason
Simply put, modern philosophy begins with Kant.If anyone wishes to understand the development of philosophy after the 18th century, you must have some grounding in Kant.That said, his works are not easy to read, nor are they well-suited to leisurely reading.While most individuals try a stab at the Critique of Pure Reason, many seem to get lost in his argument.

For all you such individuals, the Prolegomena offers a handy guide to Kant's Critique of Pure Reason.This work is relatively short and far more accessible compared to the Critique.However, for a serious understanding of Kant, you must read this alongside the Critique of Pure Reason.Whereas the Prolegomena gives us a taste of the whole picture, the Critique provides us with all the details and nuances of his argument.

Lastly, the Hackett edition of this is quite nice in that it provides, at the end, a list of major words/phrases and the corresponding German.

Analytic of the Critique
This text is essentially a concise summary of the work accomplished by Kant in his Critique of Pure Reason, in which the great thinker answers the following: 1)How is pure mathematics possible? 2) How is pure natural science possible? 3)How is metaphysics in general possible? 4) How is metaphysics as a science possible? These are of course the most crucial topics in all transcendental thought, and this volume is possibly the most successful microcosm of Kant's thought. However, for all real students of Kant, the Critique must be read in its entirety.

Overview
This book is a very good overview of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and a very good introduction to Kant's thought.

best insomnia cure ever
People always think I'm making some sort of joke or being funny when I tell 'em they should read this here book if they're having trouble sleeping. I'm not. I tell them that the key to conking out while reading this book is to not merely skim along, reading it at a surface level, but to try to understand it. Put as much energy and effort into understanding it that you can. That will knock you out for a full night's sleep. Yup. If it doesn't put you to sleep, then you will have gained a critical understanding of one of the most influential works of modern philosophy...a field so dead that something written in 1772 is considered modern. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Must read
This little volume is undeniably one of the most discussed works of ethical philosophy in the Western tradition. It stems from Kant's work on metaphysics, established in the Critique of Pure Reason in which Kant lays out the crucial principles of human understanding. This work, is a logical extension of Kant's noumenal-phenomenal division, in which man is given the choice of being an ethical legislator. For Kant, universality is the primary guideline to all ethical choice, in contradistinction to the utilitarian thinkers such as Mill and Bentham. There is nothing in this book that will sound peculiar to a new reader, as the ideas are so rational from a Western-Enlightenment point of view, they simply formulate what we have already been told. Never the less, this is essential reading for any real understanding of ethics and its development in relation to its rejection in the post-modern tradition. The translator, James Ellington, has done a fair job to Kant's work.

Which translation of the Grundlegung is right for you?
There is no doubt that Kant's Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten is one of the three or four most important texts of modern moral philosophy.The only question is, if you have to rely on an English translation, which translation is best?I think that depends on why you are reading this book.If you have only a casual interest in Kant, or if you are reading this book only because it is required for a class and you plan on selling this book back to the university co-op the second the semester ends (if not before), then I would definitely go with the Hackett; Ellington's translation is quite good and reads well, plus it's cheap (in general, Hackett produces reliable, though rarely definitive, and inexpensive translations).If you prefer a more literal translation, I would recommend either the Allen Wood translation (Yale) or the Mary Gregor translation (Cambridge), though you sacrifice a bit of readability with Gregor and a bit more with Wood.Wood says that his translation is intended to be more literal than Gregor's, but in my opinion he does not altogether succeed in that intention; I believe the Wood and Gregor translations are roughly of the same caliber (for example, they both translate Verstand as "understanding" as opposed to "intellect").Oxford also has a translation out, but I have not reviewed it yet.

If, however, you have a serious interest in Kant, then I would recommend the volume entitled _Practical Philosophy_, published as part of the Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant._Practical Philosophy_ includes the Groundwork, the Critique of Practical Reason, and The Metaphysics of Morals (all translated by Gregor), in addition to the essays on Enlightenment and Perpetual Peace.

Profound, Inspiring, and, Of Course, Difficult
Kant's Groundwork (or Foundations) of the Metaphysics of Morals is probably the single most influential work of philosophical ethics since Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics.While Kant himself considered this a sort of introduction to ethical thinking, it's come to be his most influential and widely read work on ethics.Despite its length--it's less than a hundred pages--this is a work of remarkable depth and intellectual insight.

And what makes the Groundwork especially interesting is its clear statement of a distinctive Kantian vision of the nature of morality.It's not just that this work includes original and exceptionally insightful philosophizing, but that there's a vision of morality underlying the details, and it's a general conception of morality in which there is something inspiring and awesome.The absolutism, the lack of concern for consequences and for human nature, the emphasis on a sort of radical freedom, the distrust of human feeling, the emphasis on our rationality--all of these are elements of Kant's emphasis on the purity of ethics.(Later works reveal that Kant's thinking about these issues was considerably more complex, but there is something fundamental about the presentation here--even if it doesn't provide a wholly accurate account of all his thinking.)Moral action, he claims, is action in which we act for duty's sake, and acting for duty's sake requires an independence of one's actions from our ordinary concerns, from everyday motives and inclinations, from self-interest, and from nearly all human feeling.And since moral action is free action, understanding moral action in this way requires Kant to carve out a sphere of freedom in which we are the authors of our actions. It's not just that we're free of external constraints in moral action; we also need to be free of the characteristics qualities of our personalities and of the distinctive patterns of thought and feeling that constitute human nature.Nevertheless, Kant claims that the moral law is one that comes from within--though not from our contingent feelings and desires.It is instead a law that we give to ourselves as rational beings.In moral action we act in ways that express our natural as rational beings, and only as rational beings.So act morally, acting with a wholly good will, is action in which we reveal ourselves to beings deserving of the dignity that comes with being a free and rational being.

Now, even though this is intended as an introduction to Kant's moral thought, this isn't an easy work.It needs to be read and re-read (and, I suppose, re-read) to be fully understood and appreciated.I've never found Kant as difficult and obscure as his reputation would suggest, but as a writer of philosophical prose he's certainly not the caliber of, say, Hume or Descartes.Still, Kant's ideas in the Groundwork, while subtle and sometimes elusive, are profound and original, and this book is a must-read for anyone interested in philosophical ethics.

Kant's aim in the Groundwork is to discover the fundamental principle of morality.In the first section he attempts to derive this fundamental principle from ordinary moral thought.In particular, he attempts to derive this principle from considerations concerning what is unconditionally good.Kant claims that the only thing that is unconditionally good is a good will.Moreover, its goodness is not a matter of the results of acting on a good will; it is good in itself.As a matter of fact, Kant claims that the results of an action done with a good will and the aims and inclinations of the agent with the good will are morally insignificant.

What, then, is it to act with a good will?It is, Kant argues, a matter of doing one's duty for duty's sake, regardless of one's feeling and the results of doing so.What is it to act from duty's sake? It is to act from principles that accord with the fundamental principle of morality.And here we get the first formulation of the fundamental principle of morality: act only on maxims that you can consistently will to be universal laws. In other words, if one is unable to will the principle of one's action to become a universal law, the action is morally impermissible.

In the second section of the Groundwork Kant attempts to draw the same conclusion from some philosophical points about the nature of duty.He begins by claiming that our knowledge of our duty is a priori and based on the exercise of reason.He then argues that facts about our duties are necessary facts, and that this shows that they must be based on a categorical imperative: that is, that our duties apply to us insofar as we are rational beings, irrespective of the contingent aspects of their nature.And, Kant argues, the one categorical imperative is the fundamental principle of morality mentioned above.He then applies this principle to some examples in order to display just how it grounds our duties in particular cases.

The rest of the second section is filled with lots of interesting, albeit abstruse, ideas.First, Kant attempts to ground the categorical imperative in something that is of unconditional worth.What is that something?The existence of rational beings, which, he says, is an end in itself.And this leads to a second formulation of the categorical imperative: (ii) act only in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in the person of yourself or someone else, as an end and never merely as a means.

This section also includes a third formulation of the categorical imperative: (iii) act only on maxims that you could will to become universal laws legislated by your own will.This formulation encapsulates Kant's claim that we can achieve autonomy only by acting in accordance with the moral law.Conformity with the moral law does not constrain our freedom since we legislate the moral law for ourselves.The moral law is not forced on us from without; its source is to be found in our own rational nature.Indeed, it is only by acting morally that we are able to achieve genuine freedom by transcending the contingent desires and inclinations that are beyond our control.

Of course, that doesn't come close to summing up the Groundwork.But it's a start.

You Kan't Read This Without Having A Headache
If you are interested in taking up philosophy, I would recommend that you not start off with Immanuel Kant.Start off with someone reasonable like Aristotle or Machiavelli.Kant is infamous for being the most difficult philosopher to read.Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals is an excruciating experience.Although a great philosopher, Kant is not that great a writer.He often makes up words and talks in circles.The pedantic nature of this work makes for an awful read.If you do understand Kant though, go for it.He has some good stuff to say ... you just have to find it.

Reason examines itself.
Kant's foundational work for his extensive examination of ethics and reason. I picked up a copy in the Harvard book store (no, I was just visiting), perhaps inheriting it from a business or law student who might by now be struggling to ignore whatever he or she once learned of ethics (sorry -- I'm sure that's not the case...). Much as Einstein would one day struggle to establish physical principles independent of observational considerations, Kant undertakes to construct a philosophy of ethics "which does not permit itself to be held back any longer by what is empirical." Kant himself might not have liked the analogy involving special relativity, but clearly science embraces his concept of universal law. Says Kant, "... wisdom -- which consists more in doing and not doing than in knowing -- needs science, not in order to learn from it, but in order that wisdom's precepts may gain acceptance and permanence." Hard to argue with that.
Kant sets forward his categorical imperative -- "I should never act except in such a way that I can also will that my maxim should become a universal law." He proceeds to illustrate and defend the imperative. The writing is extremely dense (by which I mean deliberate and exacting, not ill conceived). He anticipates and answers detracting arguments, undoubtedly including any that I might offer here. Some of his critics may not recognize that their objections have been dealt with (and Kant seems to anticipate even this). So is Kant right? Yes, or at the least mostly yes. If on some point he may be rebutted, he still wins the war, so to speak. So-called moral relativists will obviously disagree with his central premise, yet Kant remains one of the most influential philosophers of any age. He is cited frequently by ethicists, educators, scientists, and spiritual leaders.
"We find that the more a cultivated reason devotes itself to the aim of enjoying life and happiness, the further does man get away from true contentment. Because of this there arises in many persons, if only they are candid enough to admit it, a certain degree of... hatred of reason."
-- I'd give it five stars if it was easier to read. ... Read more

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Read it, ponder it, implement it...
This is a powerful book about the rationale of a moral philosophy.For all of you who are not familiar with Kant, he is by no means an easy read.If you plan on getting this book plan on being engaged fully in the book.Some of the thoughts reveberate in your mind for months afterword.Kant breaks it down to pure logic and sets forth a notion of the categorical imperative.Check it out if you are into thought... and lots of it. ... Read more

Book Description
Kant is arguably the most influential modern philosopher, but also one of the most difficult. Roger Scruton tackles his exceptionally complex subject with a strong hand, exploring the background to Kant's work and showing why the Critique of Pure Reason has proved so enduring. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Only 4 stars because any short introduction doesn't give Kant his due
It's a pretty good introduction, I'd recommend reading several introductions to Kant before diving in (he's pretty dense). I think Goethe said that reading Kant was like walking into a well-lit room, I hardly think he was talking about Kant's dry, scholastic writing style. The clarity of his thought, however, is pretty intense. I do recommend this book, merely because jumping straight into Kant probably isn't going to fare well. When, and if, you do choose to read Kant, take a look at Jonathan Bennett's website (a philosopher and Kant scholar), I think he translates Kant into more readable English. Early Modern Texts or something. I agree with some of the other commentators, that this introduction is kinda hard for a first time look into Kant. A history of philosophy book might be your best bet to read first. It is pretty good for such a short introduction though. Take your time and don't do it in a day. Digest it. Good luck all.

Making Sense of Genius
Kant is clearly one of the 4 or 5 most influential thinkers of the last half-century, however, the complexity of his ideas combined with an often difficult writing style (for modern readers) makes for a difficult study.In order to get the most out of Kant (or to get through him at all, for that matter), it is essential to read and study modern introductions and commentaries first.This "very short introduction" is an excellent example.It is concise, highly readable, and a good beginning for more detailed study.However, it is still not enough to allow one to tackle Kant immediately and I suggest further introductory study.

Great intro to Kant
Immanuel Kant's life work focused on solving the mistakes of the rationalist philosophy that he had learned from men, like Gottfried Leibnitz, and the mistakes of the empiricist philosophy that he was so intrigued with through the writings of David Hume.Kant wants to move beyond the mistakes both schools of philosophy made and synthesize their truths into a new philosophical understanding of knowledge.Rationalist philosophers held the view that all knowledge came from the exercise of reason alone, unpolluted by the view of any experience held by the observer."Reality itself is accessible to reason alone, since only reason can rise above the individual point of view and participate in the vision of ultimate necessities, which is also God's."Thus, Leibnitz argues that human understanding contained certain innate principles known to be true, which when used with our ability to reason, could explain all questions in and of the world.Rationalists were convinced that experience was not a reliable tool to gain knowledge of the world.The rationalist method was very convincing and was the dominant school of philosophy in Kant's day.The criticism of rationalist philosophy was that you had to "trust" in reason to be able to deduce answers.

On the other hand, empiricist philosophers believed that knowledge of the world was only possible through learning by experience.Hume "denies the possibility of knowledge through reason, since reason cannot operate without ideas, and ideas are acquired only through the senses."Hume and other empiricist philosophers argued that without observing proof of something, the observer could not have knowledge of it.Knowledge of the world, for Hume, is knowledge of the world through the eyes of the observer.Hume argues that reason can only provide relationships between ideas; reason cannot produce ideas on its own or provide facts.Hume was even distrustful of the writings and teachings of others being capable of providing answers."The only experience that can confirm anything for me is my experience."Hume's skepticism even rises to the level of doubting the existence of self.Thus, Hume earns the moniker of "the Great Skeptic."Hume's skepticism is in direct contradiction to the rationalist philosopher, Rene Descartes, whose rationalist investigations led him to utter the famous words, "Cogito, ergo sum, I think, therefore I am."The criticism of empiricist philosophy is that we can be sure of so little, since one can actually prove through direct observation so little in the world.For Kant, Hume puts so much of scientific thought into question since Hume doubts the concept of causality occurring in nature.Thus, Kant says it was Hume who "awoke him from his dogmatic slumbers."Kant so desperately wants to solve the philosophical dichotomy between these two schools.

Kant believes that both schools make the same fundamental mistake in their approach to the question of epistemology.He argued that philosophers were essentially asking the wrong question, which was, how we can bring ourselves to understand the world.Kant said the real question to ask was how the world comes to be understood by us.Kant will solve this dichotomy between the two schools in his first book Critique of Pure Reason.

This was required reading for a graduate course in the Humanities.Recommended reading for anyone interested in history, psychology, philosophy, and literature.

Heroic Attempt by Scruton
This is an heroic attempt by Scruton to summarize the entire philosophy of one the most important thinkers of all time.Unfortunately, Kant was also not the greatest writer of all time and often made his own great insights almost incomprehensible to the casual reader.Scruton does a wonderful job of making Kant clear.

Excellent introduction to Kant
This book offers a clear and concise introduction to one of the most difficult philosophers. This book, and others in the series, are excellent preparation for an undergraduate class. Scruton is a little conservative in his analysis of Kant's work. The reader should be aware that he is definitely of the analytic strain. ... Read more

Book Description
This is the most up-to-date, brief and accessible introduction to Kant's ethics available.It approaches the moral theory via the political philosophy, thus allowing the reader to appreciate why Kant argued that the legal structure for any civil society must have a moral basis. This approach also explains why Kant thought that our basic moral norms should serve as laws of conduct for everyone. The volume also includes a detailed commentary on Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant's most widely studied work of moral philosophy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great introduction to Kant's ethics
The problem with Kant's political theory is that it is not found in one work. His ethics is spread out in Critique of Pure Reason, Groundworks of the Metaphysics of Morals, Critique of Practical Reason and many more. Taken the fact that Kant's language (even in German) is anything but easy to understand and that most students never move beyond the "Groundworks of the Metaphysics of Morals" Sullivan's introduction is a gold mine! It's easy to read, explains the concepts and the development of Kant's thought and points you to the relevant further readings if needed. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Bought for mom...
I can only say that regarding this book I bought it for my mother, whom is well educated and she found it to be a challenging read.

I purchased it based on the recomendation of a professor I was friends with, probably where I went wrong.I think conseptually it was a solid book based on the feedback I received, it was just challenging.

so great, it makes the usual religion piffle
It would be a great benefit to me if I could openly admit a fondness for a Kant kind of crazy which is discussed very near the end of RELIGION WITHIN THE LIMITS OF REASON ALONE, which I discovered when I was seeking to comprehend the meaning of the index entry:

Fetishism, 165-8, 181 ff. See Faith, ceremonial, and Religion

For me this was like looking up crazy in an index and finding an entry for:

Crazy, 182-6, See talking to yourself, and Prayer

To quote Kant directly:

1. Praying, thought of as an inner formal service of God and hence as a means of grace, is a superstitious illusion (a fetish-making); for it is no more than a stated wish directed to a Being who needs no such information regarding the inner disposition of the wisher; therefore nothing is accomplished by it, and it discharges none of the duties to which, as commands of God, we are obligated; hence God is not really served. . . . (pp. 182-183).

Anyone will find the truth of this last remark confirmed if he conceives of a pious and well-meaning man, but one who is circumscribed in respect of these purified religious concepts, whom some one takes unawares, I will not say in praying aloud, but merely in behavior indicative of prayer. Everyone will of him, of course, without my saying so, expect a man thus surprised to fall into confusion or embarrassment, as though in a situation whereof he should be ashamed. But why? It is because a man caught talking aloud to himself is suspected for the moment of having a slight attack of madness; and thus do we also judge a man (and not altogether unjustly) when we find him, all alone, in an occupation or attitude which can properly belong only to one who sees some one else before him--and in the example we have given this is not the case. (p. 183, n. *).

The Part Two "Concerning The Pseudo-Service Of God In A Statutory Religion" which begins on page 156 is concerned with "religious illusion whose consequence is a pseudo-service, that is, pretending honoring of God through which we work directly counter to the service demanded by God Himself." (p. 156). I used to feel that way when I was in the army, serving the army for a few short years, including a year in Nam and a week in Cambodia, having the feeling when I listened to chaplains that I had actually been to church before and the overriding message which I heard elsewhere hardly applied to what the chaplains were saying. I was not entirely happy about being in the army, and my inner reaction to being in the infantry in Nam was more like shock than Kant, but Kant never wrote a book called WAR WITHIN THE LIMITS OF REASON ALONE. In Kant's book, the second topic in this Part Two is called "The Moral Principle of Religion Opposed to the Religious Illusion." (p. 158). The waste of effort is summarized by Kant as "They are all alike in worth (or rather worthlessness), and it is a mere affectation to regard oneself as more excellent, because of a subtler deviation from the one and only intellectual principle of genuine respect for God, than those who allow themselves to become guilty of an assumedly coarser degradation of sensuality. Whether the devotee betakes himself to church according to rule or whether he undertakes a pilgrimage to the sanctuaries in Loretto or in Palestine; whether he brings his formulas of prayer to the court of heaven with his lips, or by means of a prayer-wheel, like the Tibetan (who believes his wishes will reach their goal just as well if they are set down in writing, provided only they be moved by something or other, by the wind, for example, if they are written on flags, or by the hand, if they are enclosed in a sort of revolving cylinder)--whatever be substituted for the moral service of God, it is all one and all equal in value. (pp. 160-161).

A paragraph on pages 164-165 pictures God as "the invisible Power which presides over the destiny of men;" Kant's religion is, "If they think of Him as a moral Being they easily convince themselves through their own reason that the condition of earning his favor must be their morally good life-conduct, and especially the pure disposition as the subjective principle of such conduct." (pp. 164-165). Kant compares the free observance of moral laws which reason supports to the vexation (drudgery) involved in "a man's conformity with an established churchly commonwealth, and he need not either inwardly or outwardly profess the belief that he regards them as institutions founded by God; and it is by confession of the latter sort that conscience is really burdened." (p. 167). Kant opposes imposed observances in which "the faith remains a fetish-faith through which the masses are ruled and robbed of their moral freedom by subservience to a church (not to religion)." (p. 168).

Actually hoping for an empire of American superpower dominated corporations benefiting from oil obtained from troublesome parts of the world reminds me of a note in which Kant asserts, "Mohammedanism is characterized by arrogant pride because it finds confirmation of its faith not in miracles but in victories and in the subjugation of many peoples, and because its devotional practices are all of the spirited sort." (p. 172, n. *). Each of the segments currently fighting for domination of Iraq might well be seeking to benefit its future by securing for itself the wealth expected to result from vast oil reserves, and those who are fleeing from the fighting have little chance of getting the big bucks that geopolitical economic schemes depend on. This applies to Kant's thinking as well as the idea of a `fetish' works for obtaining God's pleasure, if you please, or damn it if you don't.

The General Observation which begins on page 179 has a footnote on the meaning of edification on page 186 which questions how often the weight of duties are secured "against the onslaughts of the desires, and thus, as it were, builds up a new man as a temple of God." All too often, "But men believe themselves to be mightily edified [erbaut] (through listening or reading and singing) while absolutely nothing has been built up [gebauet], yea, where no hand has been put to work. They believe this, presumably, because they hope that this moral edifice will rise up of itself, like the walls of Thebes, to the music of sighs and yearning wishes."

Which translation?
I assume that this "Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone" is a different translation of the same book entitled by another publisher as "Religion Within the Boundaries of Mere Reason."The question is, which is better and for what reasons?

What can be done in the space between your ears!
Let me state up front that I do not think Kant succeeded in what he tried to do in this book. That caveat in place, Kant's book a fine attempt at grounding religious belief in something other than revelation. Now, of course that might ruffle a few feathers on both sides of the belief-fence (as it did in his day, and will continue to do), but that was Kant's goal in this text. However, no understanding of Kant's reasoning in this book (or any other of his works) can be complete without taking into account the Lutheran Pietism in which he was raised. (Regarding the review below, Kant was never Roman Catholic; the Lutheran streak is part of what made Kant who he was, for good or ill.) The subjectivism of his Pietist background had an almost incalculable affect on Kant's philosophy and metaphysics. As a matter of fact, the subjectivist principle of his "Copernican revolution" in philosophy could arguably be seen as a natural outgrowth of the personalism that his Lutheran Pietist upbringing gave to him. Members of the Pietist sects current in Kant's day believed that religion should be realized, contained, and held deep within the inner self. They also held that religion should be expressed through simplicity and obedience to moral law. Hence, to oversimplify, we get Kant's famous "starry heavens above and the moral law within" as the two things which fill him "with ever increasing wonder."

Kant was convinced that the moral basis of religion, specifically the Christian religion, was available to any and all by introspection and meditation. In this work, he sets out to show why that is the case and how it could be achieved. Kant's anti-supernaturalist project of Kant's book is explicit from the beginning, though I should point out that, as in his Critique of Pure Reason, Kant certainly does not refuse to entertain ideas such as miracles and such. He simply says that they are not he purview of speculative philosophy. This could become a naive fideism, but with Kant it (arguably) never does. What Kant wants to do is plain in his title, and clear in his text: develop the idea of religion strictly within the bounds of reason, alone. For Kant, pure philosophy was the realm of human reason, and within that realm (at least pushing against the antinomies) religion could be found and established. Anything beyond that was simply beyond the ability and thus the interest of philosophy.

This is a great translation and as good an introduction to reading Kant as any of his works.

Kant and Religion
Though the title may imply so, Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone is not an attempt to confine religion to reason per se, but rather an attempt to display what can be perceived by reason on the subject ofreason, naturally of Kant, a priori (outside of experience). When Kantencountered a topic that was outside the limits of reason (i.e. miracles)he fully conceded that reason could not explain that which is of directDivine influence, thus making his point clear that reason can be usefulwithin religion, but there comes a point where God takes over and reasonmust bow before His Sovereignty.This book contains a wealth ofinteresting ideas and concepts, and I personally used it to teach lessonsto my Sunday School class. However, due to Kant's deeply profound writingstyle, this book, along with his others, is generally misunderstood, orelse not understood at all. I believe that Religion would be an excellentdevotional if taken in small parts over a period of time. There are manyinteresting concepts that could be overlooked if one rushed through,therefore it is imperative that the reader be sure to take time to think onwhat Kant was trying to convey.As a Christian witness, Kant mademany beautiful comments on the necessity of being "Born-again"through the Son of God and on the Law of God and its influence on thesinner who is incapable of being righteous outside of this law. Kant is notsomeone who will be quoted in a common Sunday morning sermon, but I believethat he is an unsung Christian hero who has been disregarded due to thedifficulty of his writing and his Catholic origin, at least in Protestantdenominations, which to quote Catholic theologians is generally taboo. Allof his works are noteworthy, but a little more effort is needed to read andunderstand him than the average person is willing to invest, but I believethat the insight gained from his works are well worth the effort. ... Read more

Book Description
Explores the limits of Kantian approaches to the study of international affairs. ... Read more

Book Description
The eleven essays in this volume constitute Kant's theoretical, pre-critical philosophical writings from 1755 to 1770.Several essays have never been translated into English before, while others have long been unavailable. The development of Kant's thought can be traced to the eventual emergence in 1770 of the two chief tenets of his mature philosophy: the subjectivity of space and time, and the phenomena-noumena distinction. Hb ISBN (1992): 0-521-39214-4 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

This book has been studied, not just read
In the newly released KANT ON SWEDENBORG, consisting of DREAMS OF A SPIRIT-SEER AND OTHER WRITINGS, Edited by Gregory R. Johnson, there are two paragraphs devoted to the translation which is contained in this book:

The third translation, DREAMS OF A SPIRIT-SEER ELUCIDATED BY DREAMS OF METAPHYSICS, appeared in 1992.It is the work of David Walford in collaboration with Ralf Meerbote, both of them established Kant scholars.The intention of Walford's edition is straightforward.It appears in a collection of Kant's precritical writings in the first volume of the Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant, THEORETICAL PHILOSOPHY, 1755-1770.
. . . Walford's translation is highly accurate and very readable.Indeed, it would be hard to justify a new translation of DREAMS at all were the Walford translation available in an inexpensive paperback edition.

Unfortunately, the only entry for David Walford in the index of KANT ON SWEDENBORG is to the page with the information above.Kant's DREAMS was published as an anonymous pamphlet, and did not contain the scholarly notes which appear on pages 156-183 of KANT ON SWEDENBORG, many of which refer to this book (henceforth Walford).Readers of KANT ON SWEDENBORG who would like to check the citations for this information need this book to refer to:

To appreciate the continuity of Kant's conception of matter throughout his career both before and after DREAMS, see . . . Walford, 53-65 . . .

Walford offers two sources for this argument: . . .

On the impenetrability of matter, see . . . Walford, 56-60: . . . Walford, 218 and . . . Walford, 260.

On the repulsive force of matter, see . . . Walford 56-60; . . . Walford, 218 and . . . Walford, 260.

On materials entities filling the space in which they operate, see . . . Walford, 56-57 . . .

Kant makes essentially the same distinction, between "virtual" and "local" presence, in . . . Walford, 409-410; . . . See also . . . Walford, 56-57; INQUIRY (AK 2: 286-288; Walford, 259-261).

All of the above notes pertain to paragraphs 3-7 of Part I, Chapter 1, "A Tangled Metaphysical Knot That Can Be Either Untied or Cut as One Pleases."The next note in KANT ON SWEDENBORG attempts to locate a source for Kant's remark, in paragraph 7, "Therefore, I would demand a strong proof to find absurd what the scholastics said:`My soul is wholly in my body, and wholly in each of its parts.' "Johnson's note 18."Walford(449, n11) claims that this phrase derives from Daries . . . The idea is, however, clearly much older:cf. Thomas Hobbes . . ." and goes on to Plotinus (c. 204/5-270), ENNEAD IV.7 "On the Immortality of the Soul," 8.2.Johnson carefully studied Kant's later writings for signs that Kant had adopted elements of Swedenborg's thoughts for his own use.He found lecture notes that Mrongovius dated to the winter semester of 1782-3 in which Kant lectured:"The ancients also said:anima est tota in corpore, sed totum tamen in parte ejus" in latin, of course, and the METAPHYSIK VIGILANTIUS had a different variation.

Kant did not attempt a detailed description of the ideas of Swedenborg until Part II of DREAMS OF A SPIRIT-SEER, Chapter 2, Ecstatic Journey of an Enthusiast Through the Spirit World."His paragraphs are long, and my favorite part doesn't come until the final sentence of the third paragraph."Thus, although I have robbed the reader of some of the moments that he may have otherwise devoted with no great benefit to the reading of thorough books on just this material, I have at the same time, for the delicacy of his tastes, through the omission of many wild chimeras, brought the quintessence of the book to a few drops, for which I expect from him just as much thanks as a certain patient believed he was obliged to the doctors who let him eat the bark of the quinquina when they could have easily made him eat the whole tree."(Johnson translation, KANT ON SWEDENBORG, p. 50).

I can't decide how many pages on this anyone should want, but now you can shop around for what you would consider most suitable. ... Read more

Book Description
The original edition of Kant: Political Writings was first published in 1970, and has long been established as the principal English-language edition of this important body of writing.In this new, expanded edition two important texts illustrating Kant's view of history are included for the first time, his reviews of Herder's Ideas on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind and Conjectures on the Beginning of Human History, as well as the essay What is Orientation in Thinking?.In addition to a general introduction assessing Kant's political thought in terms of his fundamental principles of politics, this edition also contains such useful student aids as notes on the texts, a comprehensive bibliogaphy and a new postscript, looking at some of the principal issues in Kantian scholarship that have arisen since the first edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Best collection I've seen in English
This is the best affordable paperback collection of Kant's essays on politics and the philosophy of history. You get Perpetual Peace, Idea for a Universal History, Contest of the Faculties, The End of all Things, Theoryand Practice, What is Enlightenment and several other essays. Hans Reiss'introduction is well written and illuminating as well. There is another,cheaper collection published by Hackett Publishing Co. (Perpetual Peace andOther Essays). However, it is smaller and less comprehensive than thisedition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

It's no Hegel
Find out how we will achieve peace through war and continual conflict. This is an important, though troubling work of political philosophy by the great thinker, though it is mediocre when compared to the historical dialectics of Hegel. For evidence of Kant's racism/ethnocentrism, read the section on Cosmopolitanism, in which Kant effectively excludes all humans outside of the Ancient Greece and the West from the human project. Well, one can't assume a great transcendental thinker will also be enlightened in politics; sad considering the "Enlightenment" is one of Kant's primary concerns in the book.

Nice, affordable edition
It is very useful to have a Kant's shorter essays on political philosophy and the philosophy of history collected in a single volume. While a larger, more comprehensive collection, edited by Hans Reiss, is published byCambridge Univ. Press under the title *Kant: Political Writings*, thissmaller Hackett version is nicely translated and much more affordable.Hackett Publ. Co. in general has been very kind to philosophy. They deserveyour patronage. ... Read more

Book Description
Perpetual Peace is an important essay by Immanuel Kant from 1795 which was originally published as Project for a Perpetual Peace. The original concept of perpetual peace is for peace to be a permanent fixture over a certain specific area or location. In modern times, the concept of world peace directly stems from this original idea of a perpetual peace. In this writing of Kant, he argues in favor of civil constitutions with Republican forms of government, world citizenship, free states, the abolishment of standing armies and for states not being able to use force to interfere with the constitutions or governments of another given state. This is an important work for those studying the idea of world peace and those interested in the writings of Immanuel Kant. ... Read more