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Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (Texts in the History of Philosophy)
Immanuel Kant was actively concerned with issues in the philosophy of natural science throughout his career. The Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science presents his most mature reflections on these themes in the context of both his critical philosophy, presented in the Critique of Pure Reason, and the natural science of his time. This volume features a new translation...more
paper, 76 pages
Published
April 23rd 1998
by Cambridge University Press
(first published 1785)
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Joshua Nomen-Mutatio
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I was the annoying guy in class who kept insisting that the categorical imperative was the Golden Rule with a thick, convoluted veneer of the most difficult writing in philosophical history slathered all over it. Of course it is slightly different than the Golden Rule, but I'd say only trivially so. I understand Kant's influence, importance, etc, I just can't stand his writing. And I do think that his ideas, as influential as they were, were often failures. And again, the writing is painfully...more
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When I was studying this book there were no copies available to buy for some reason - but then I found it in the local library in a hard back edition printed in the 1930s or something. I borrowed it and showed it to my lecturer and he said, "You ought to steal that - they only charge you what it cost the library to buy and that would have been cents back then." I said, "You want me to steal a book on morality?" Needless to say, he was much better at lecturing on Neitzsche....more
i read the groundwork (finally finally) cover to cover in an airport in washington dc, where i spent a fourteen hour day watching one flight after another cancelled cancelled cancelled, and i have to tell you that people are near to their worst (that average daily sort of worst) in airports as their flights are cancelled. everyone was fighting for seats on future flights which would also be cancelled. everyone was arguing their cases to helpless airport staff, and the staff, in turn, treated u...more
Anyone interested in ethics (moral philosophy) must read this work. Of the handful of indispensable moral philosophical works, along with Plato's Republic, Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Aquinas' Summa, and Mill's Utilitarianism. Relatively short (but dense; he is German after all), the beginner of Kant's philosophy should start here, and then advance to his (arguably even more influential) epistemology. In my opinion, it's easier this way than to tackle the 1st Critique first. As profound as G...more
The Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals was published in 1785, just before the Critique of Practical Reason. It is essentially a short introduction to the argument presented in the second Critique. In order to understand what Kant is up to in this book, it is useful to know something about Kant's other works and about the intellectual climate of his time.
Kant lived and wrote during a period in European intellectual history called the "Enlightenment." Stretching from the...more
Kant lived and wrote during a period in European intellectual history called the "Enlightenment." Stretching from the...more
Després d'haver-lo llegit no pots viure com si res. Has pogut pensar amb les idees d'una ment gran, que mai hauries conegut si no l´haguessis llegit. Aquí copiï les cites preferides:
Es imposible que un ser finito, aunque sea extraordinariamente perspicaz y esté tremendamente capacitado, pueda hacerse una idea precisa de lo que realmente quiere.
Ser caritativo supone un deber....pero hay muchas almas compasivas que encuentran un íntimo placer en esparcir júbilo a su alred...more
Es imposible que un ser finito, aunque sea extraordinariamente perspicaz y esté tremendamente capacitado, pueda hacerse una idea precisa de lo que realmente quiere.
Ser caritativo supone un deber....pero hay muchas almas compasivas que encuentran un íntimo placer en esparcir júbilo a su alred...more
As has been said elsewhere and with more authority than I can muster without citing letters after my name, this book, even on its own, is a landmark for thinking on par with Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics. While criticism is often waged upon this deceivingly simple book, one must truly understand the arguments applied from The First Critique (The Critique of Pure Reason) in order to object to its arguments. Hence, although easily read on its own, it is not nearly as formidable a champion of lo...more
At only 66 pages of main text, you might think this slim volume would make a quick read. Unless you know anything of Kant's writing style. As a thinker, he was careful with his logic so his arguments developed deliberately. This means that, given his assumptions, his points are generally sound. On the other hand, it leads to some rather dense and dreary prose. That doesn't, however, take away from my for star rating, and neither should it discourage you from picking up this wonderful volume. In ...more
I read this electronic edition: http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/kant... which did not strike me as particularly hard to read or understand, despite the fact that those are very common complaints re: this book. Actually, I was mostly impressed with Kant's reasoning and argument, apart from the unnecessary conditions of morality later in the book, but deontological ethics (focused on good in itself, etc. divorced from consequence or social contract etc.) just don't work, and the (first formula...more
It's probably a product of having been in grad school for too long, but somehow I found myself really liking this piece. I don't even care that it's not applicable to real life, at least his methods are based on tying human action to univsersal principles that anyone can participate in instead of trying to create this really creepy classist/elitist system of morality which the ancient greeks oozed over. And unlike the clunky, inhuman ethical systems espoused by more anylitic thinkers, Kant is at...more
This is, without a doubt, the most bizarre text I've ever read. Technical things first: This is Routledge's The Moral Law -- they changed the title; I didn't read why. The translator said something [briefly in some section] to the effect that it was a horrid title [I don't think so!]. The first thing to note is that the footnotes correspond to the GERMAN edition -- which has its page numbers written in the margins next to the body of the text. I didn't realise this until more than halfway throug...more
That there must be such a philosophy is self-evident from the common idea of duty and moral laws. Everyone must admit that if a law is to hold morally (i.e. as a basis for someone’s being obliged to do something), it must imply absolute necessity; that the command: Thou shalt not lie doesn’t apply only to human beings, as though it had no force for other rational beings (and similarly with all other moral laws properly so called); that the ground of obligation here mustn’t be looked for in pe...more
Kant is not considered as one of the more accessible philosophers, and most of his monumental works are too long and beyond reach of an average reader. This short book is still fairly advanced and conceptually sophisticated, but fortunately due to its length it does not go much too deep in philosophical concepts. The book deals on several occasions with the central concept in Kant's moral philosophy, and that is the concept of categorical imperative. This imperative can be summed up in Kant's fa...more
This is a pretty good effort from Kant, and a solid argument for the objectivity and a priority of morals. We see the person as an end in themselves and personally I found this far more pursuasive than Mill's Utilitarianism that places happiness for the majority above the individual. However Kant's Kingdom of Ends if far too removed from real life dilemmas where it just doesn't seem reasonable to apply the universal maxim for all situations, mostly because real life is just too darn complicated....more
Good = Bad
I've always been one that I would consider of extreme moral character. And my view, you always knew what was right because it required the sacrifice. Odd how this book was refered to me because the referer thought it would only bolster my resolve. Quite to the contrary, it destroyed my view on moral judgment with a simple stroke.
I grant that, as Kant depicted, without choice and freedom of will the concepts of good/bad and right/wrong are meaningless. But if...more
I've always been one that I would consider of extreme moral character. And my view, you always knew what was right because it required the sacrifice. Odd how this book was refered to me because the referer thought it would only bolster my resolve. Quite to the contrary, it destroyed my view on moral judgment with a simple stroke.
I grant that, as Kant depicted, without choice and freedom of will the concepts of good/bad and right/wrong are meaningless. But if...more
First, this book will make your brain HURT. Seriously: I literally felt like my brain was melting within my craneum. The translation into English at least is almost impenetrable.
Second, however, if you really have a serious interest in ethics you should absolutely try read it, understand it, critique it. This work is one of the founding sources of modern ethical thought, along with its polar opposite Utilitarianism (JS Mill). Everything else that came after builds on it, reacts...more
Second, however, if you really have a serious interest in ethics you should absolutely try read it, understand it, critique it. This work is one of the founding sources of modern ethical thought, along with its polar opposite Utilitarianism (JS Mill). Everything else that came after builds on it, reacts...more
This is simply a great and surprisingly accessible book. Yes, this book requires more thought and deliberation than most others, but the end result is a deeper understanding of the nature of moral maxims, if one accepts what Kant has to say.
Observations of human behavior yield confusing and conflicting judgments, and so Kant turns to a non-empirical activity of thought, termed pure reason. Slowly and steadily, the "common sense" of moral knowledge is built up into a vast stru...more
Observations of human behavior yield confusing and conflicting judgments, and so Kant turns to a non-empirical activity of thought, termed pure reason. Slowly and steadily, the "common sense" of moral knowledge is built up into a vast stru...more
Although Kant's writing isn't always the most reader-friendly, his analysis of a very difficult subject is quite solid. He makes a few leaps in his reasoning, but makes a good case for his development of a "doctrine" of morals. Probably the most important result he claims is the categorical imperative: "Act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law". The book is less than 100 pages, and a very worthwhile read...more
I do not understand all. But what I did understand of this short & steep work resonated with me and made me rethink my dogmatic refusal of his thought on account of it being too dogmatic.
I was a fool and may still be. Now that I have recognised this I have set myself the formidable task of reading Kant's other contributions. They are less short and more steep but as I believe they lie on the path to enlightment they are steps I must take. It is my duty!
Onwards and upwards!
I was a fool and may still be. Now that I have recognised this I have set myself the formidable task of reading Kant's other contributions. They are less short and more steep but as I believe they lie on the path to enlightment they are steps I must take. It is my duty!
Onwards and upwards!
I have to say no matter how many times I read over some of the paragraphs in this, I still couldn't grasp it completely. BUT, I felt like once I got into the flow of the book, I got sucked in and loved it. There was so much to dissect and digest. I wish I could have studied it in a class or with a group.
"Act as if the maxim of thy action were to become by thy will a universal law of nature."
"Act as if the maxim of thy action were to become by thy will a universal law of nature."
While the first two sections of the work were very well thought-out and well written, the third section got a little obscure at times and got a little confusing...
All-in-all, however, if one understands the first two sections of the book, you can understand Kant's ideas in general and what he's trying to say about morality, which is really quite interesting.
All-in-all, however, if one understands the first two sections of the book, you can understand Kant's ideas in general and what he's trying to say about morality, which is really quite interesting.
Not being ethic, one denies the dispositions of his reason and, as a consequence, his own humanity. This was such an amazing and convincing logic I found here in this book. Despite its sometimes tortuous and repetitive style, "Groundwork" is worth the time it consumes for being such a remarkable work on ethics.
Rereading this for probably the 10th time, I was surprised how much I liked §3. In terms of ways of dealing with the threat that our conception of ourselves as objects in the natural world poses to our conception of ourselves as moral agents, Kant comes out pretty good (if you're willing to accept the idea of a world of things in themselves). But, as I expected, trying to teach §2 is really hard.
I had also forgotten how Kant is the master of the vitriolic philosophical smackdown, li...more
I had also forgotten how Kant is the master of the vitriolic philosophical smackdown, li...more
Lesh leshimir
is currently reading it
ovo je uzasno tesko i covjek je star pa cudno prica. njegove ideje morala mi se cine sve vise bezveze sto ih vise proucim, smijao bih mu se da nije poznat kao veliki frajer, pa sam si naredio actually procitati sto ima za reci.
I learned about morals; how to universalize your maximes and prescriptivism. And I learned that Kant takes a lot for granted about the human nature: therefore his arguments are not necessarily compelling.
Erik Graff
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Recommends it for:
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Recommended to Erik by:
Cornel West
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Work on an M.Div. thesis entitled "Immanuel Kant's Influence on the Thought of C.G. Jung" had me read all of the Kant that Jung had read as evinced by the books in his library and the citations given in his writings. Now, two years later, having returned to school to study philosophy, I had incentive to continue the study of Kant's writings beyond those with which the psychiatrist had been familiar.
The Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals was read for Loyola University...more
The Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals was read for Loyola University...more
I have to be honest, I didn't like this book so much because it was so dry, and for the volume of pages he writes he said so little
Great text but too dense. Philosophy should be for the masses and the common man because that is where good decisions make a difference.
Kant develops his theory of the 'Categorical Imperative', which is actually the fundamental principle of Reason applied to conduct.
This really is one of the greatest works in western philosophy. Is it perfect? No, but Kant does so much here for deontological ethics.
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Immanuel Kant was an 18th-century German philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia). He is regarded as one of the most influential thinkers of modern Europe and of the late Enlightenment.
His most important work is The Critique of Pure Reason, a critical investigation of reason itself. It encompasses an attack on traditional metaphysics and epistemology, ...more
More about Immanuel Kant...
His most important work is The Critique of Pure Reason, a critical investigation of reason itself. It encompasses an attack on traditional metaphysics and epistemology, ...more
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“Have the courage to use your own reason- That is the motto of enlightenment.”
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“Así, pues, el valor de todos los objetos que podemos obtener por medio de nuestras acciones es siempre condicionado. Los seres cuya existencia no descansa en nuestra voluntad, sino en la naturaleza, tienen, empero, si son seres irracionales, un valor meramente relativo, como medios, y por eso se llaman cosas; en cambio, los seres racionales llámanse personas porque su naturaleza los distingue ya como fines en sí mismos, esto es, como algo que no puede ser usado meramente como medio, y, por tanto, limita en ese sentido todo capricho (y es un objeto del respeto). Estos no son, pues, meros fines subjetivos, cuya existencia, como efecto de nuestra acción, tiene un valor para nosotros, sino que son fines objetivos, esto es, cosas cuya existencia es en sí misma un fin, y un fin tal, que en su lugar no puede ponerse ningún otro fin para el cual debieran ellas servir de medios, porque sin esto no hubiera posibilidad de hallar en parte alguna nada con valor absoluto; mas si todo valor fuere condicionado y, por tanto, contingente, no podría encontrarse para la razón ningún principio práctico supremo.”
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