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This book examines Immanuel Kant's impact on moral philosophy from his time to our own. Kant's moral philosophy can seem complicated, but at the most basic level it is driven by the simple idea that the greatest possible freedom for each combined with an equal degree of freedom for all is the fundamental principle of philosophy.
About the author
Paul Guyer is Jonathan Nelson Professor of Humanities and Philosophy at Brown University. He received his AB and PhD from Harvard University. Prior to moving to Brown in 2012, he taught for thirty years at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author, editor, and/or translator of twenty-seven books, many on the philosophy of Kant. He was the General Co-Editor of the Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant. Guyer has been president of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association and the American Society of Aesthetics. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Summary
This book examines Immanuel Kant's impact on moral philosophy from his time to our own. Kant's moral philosophy can seem complicated, but at the most basic level it is driven by the simple idea that the greatest possible freedom for each combined with an equal degree of freedom for all is the fundamental principle of philosophy.
Additional text
Kant's Impact on Moral Philosophy is a worthy successor to the Invention of Autonomy. Guyer pushes far beyond the usual narrative according to which Kant's greatest impact was on the German Idealists and Rawls(ians). His book will be of great interest to Kant scholars and Kantian ethicists, as well as to scholars who are curious about the Kantiandebts of many significant 19th- and 20th-century ethicists.