Kant, Liberalism, and the Meaning of Life

In the wake of populist challenges throughout the past decade in the U.S. and Europe, liberalism has been described as elitist and out of touch, concerned with protecting and promoting material interests with an orientation that is pragmatic, legalistic, and technocratic. Simultaneously,
liberal governments have become increasingly detached from the middle class and its moral needs for purpose and belonging. If liberalism cannot provide spiritual sustenance, individuals will look elsewhere for it, especially in illiberal forms of populism. In Kant, Liberalism, and the Meaning of Life, Jeffrey Church addresses the meaning deficit in contemporary liberal societies. Focusing on Immanuel Kant's largely neglected early lectures on anthropology from the 1760s and 1770s, Church argues that Kant's work can serve as a basis for a more
meaningful liberalism, one that conceives of freedom and equality for all as a moral vocation of citizens and institutions. Church also asserts that Kant's early view of the meaning of life has important implications for understanding his political theory. Kant saw liberal community as something
that helps us realize our destiny on earth as the distinctively free creatures we are. Liberalism, then, is not elitist but a participatory project of all members of society. It is not concerned primarily with material things but with our moral destiny. It is not pragmatic but principled. Church holds that Kant's liberalism rests on a view of the meaning of human existence, and so analyzes Kant's view of the meaning of life and its application to his politics. In particular, Church contends that a fundamental concern included in Kant's liberalism, largely unrecognized by scholars, is
to foster the meaning of life for citizens of liberal republican orders. At the same time, Church applies Kant's views of the meaning of life to contemporary problems in liberalism. In particular, he argues that Kant's view of a meaningful liberalism can provide a counterweight to the recent rise of
illiberal nationalist or religious forms of community that seem attractive to liberal citizens hungering for meaning in a disenchanted world. Compelling and ambitious, Jeffrey Church provides the first extended treatment of Kant's understanding of the meaning of life and a powerful alternative to
procedural liberalism.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• Introduction


• Part 1: Kant on the Meaning of Life


• Chapter 1: Kant's Early Defense of the Contemplative Life


• Chapter 2: The Two Vocations of Humanity in Kant's Anthropology


• Chapter 3: The Worthlessness of Human Life


• Chapter 4: Kant's Genealogy of Morality


• Chapter 5: Kant's View of the Meaning of Life


• Part 2: Kant on Right as Realizing Meaning in Life


• Chapter 6: The Purposes of Politics (1): Culture


• Chapter 7: The Purposes of Politics (2): Civilization


• Chapter 8: The Purposes of Politics (3): Right


• Part 3: Applying Kant's Meaningful Liberalism


• Chapter 9: Kant's Perfectionist Liberalism


• Chapter 10: Kant's Political Liberalism


• Chapter 11: The Meaningfulness of the Liberal Project


• Acknowledgements


• Bibliography

Über den Autor / die Autorin

Jeffrey Church is Chair and Professor of Political Science at the University of Houston. His research focuses on the history of modern political thought, and he is the author of three books, including Infinite Autonomy: the Divided Individual in the Political Thought of G.W.F. Hegel and Friedrich Nietzsche; Nietzsche's Culture of Humanity: Beyond Aristocracy and Democracy in the Early Period; and Nietzsche's Unfashionable Observations: A Critical Introduction and Guide.

Zusammenfassung

In the wake of populist challenges throughout the past decade in the U.S. and Europe, liberalism has been described as elitist and out of touch, concerned with protecting and promoting material interests with an orientation that is pragmatic, legalistic, and technocratic. Simultaneously, liberal governments have become increasingly detached from the middle class and its moral needs for purpose and belonging. If liberalism cannot provide spiritual sustenance, individuals will look elsewhere for it, especially in illiberal forms of populism.

In Kant, Liberalism, and the Meaning of Life, Jeffrey Church addresses the "meaning deficit" in contemporary liberal societies. Focusing on Immanuel Kant's largely neglected early lectures on anthropology from the 1760s and 1770s, Church argues that Kant's work can serve as a basis for a more meaningful liberalism, one that conceives of freedom and equality for all as a moral vocation of citizens and institutions. Church also asserts that Kant's early view of the meaning of life has important implications for understanding his political theory. Kant saw liberal community as something that helps us realize our destiny on earth as the distinctively free creatures we are. Liberalism, then, is not elitist but a participatory project of all members of society. It is not concerned primarily with material things but with our moral destiny. It is not pragmatic but principled.

Church holds that Kant's liberalism rests on a view of the meaning of human existence, and so analyzes Kant's view of the meaning of life and its application to his politics. In particular, Church contends that a fundamental concern included in Kant's liberalism, largely unrecognized by scholars, is to foster the meaning of life for citizens of liberal republican orders. At the same time, Church applies Kant's views of the meaning of life to contemporary problems in liberalism. In particular, he argues that Kant's view of a meaningful liberalism can provide a counterweight to the recent rise of illiberal nationalist or religious forms of community that seem attractive to liberal citizens hungering for meaning in a disenchanted world. Compelling and ambitious, Jeffrey Church provides the first extended treatment of Kant's understanding of the meaning of life and a powerful alternative to procedural liberalism.

Zusatztext

This work makes a simple point: some contemporary theorists critique political liberalism as unable to provide agreement about common values and meaning... Political philosophers, Kant scholars, and value theorists will all find this work rewarding.

Produktdetails

• Autoren: Jeffrey Church, Jeffrey (Professor of Political Science Church, Church Jeffrey
• Verlag: Oxford University Press
• Sprache: Englisch
• Produktform: Fester Einband
• Erschienen: 31.08.2022
• EAN: 9780197633182
• ISBN: 978-0-19-763318-2
• Seiten: 352
• Themen: Geisteswissenschaften, Kunst, Musik > Geschichte > Allgemeines, Lexika; Sozialwissenschaften, Recht,Wirtschaft > Politikwissenschaft > Politische Wissenschaft und Politische Bildung; History of Ideas, PHILOSOPHY / Political, PHILOSOPHY / Logic, POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory, HISTORY / Social History, Social & political philosophy, Political science & theory, social and political philosophy, Political science and theory