Geschichte der Moralphilosophie. Hume, Leibniz, Kant, Hegel

by John Rawls

La philosophie morale de Kant, Hume, Leibniz, Hegel : la version finale des derniers cours de John Rawls, aboutissement de près de trente ans d'enseignement à Harvard (1962-1991). " L'un des avantages de l'étude des textes historiques [...], c'est qu'elle nous permet de nous rendre compte à quel point la tonalité des questions philosophiques est influencée par la structure de pensée à partir de laquelle elles sont formulées. Il s'agit là d'une expérience très éclairante, non seulement en soi, en tant qu'elle nous révèle différentes formes de pensée philosophique, mais également parce qu'elle nous oblige à considérer d'un œil nouveau la structure de pensée souvent implicite et inarticulée à partir de laquelle nous formulons nos propres questions ".Ces Leçons sur l'histoire de la philosophie morale représentent l'aboutissement mûrement réfléchi de près de trente ans d'enseignement à Harvard (1962-1991). Pendant ces années, la pensée de John Rawls s'est confrontée aux textes majeurs de la modernité philosophique dans un souci de transmission pédagogique mais surtout de mise en perspective des sources de ses propres conceptions morales et politiques. Il signale ainsi dans quelle mesure Théorie de la Justice s'inscrit dans la lignée des systèmes de pensées et des problématiques qu'il examine par ailleurs avec le plus grand scrupule philologique. L'une des vertus essentielles de cet ouvrage est de démentir l'idée reçue selon laquelle le style analytique d'une certaine philosophie politique anglo-saxonne la rendrait insensible aux enjeux de pensée soulevés par l'histoire de la philosophie.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics, History, Nonfiction, Law, American, Sociology

Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

John Bordley Rawls was an American philosopher and a leading figure in moral and political philosophy. He held the James Bryant Conant University Professorship at Harvard. His magnum opus A Theory of Justice (1971) is now regarded as "one of the primary texts in political philosophy." His work in political philosophy, dubbed Rawlsianism, takes as its starting point the argument that "most reasonable principles of justice are those everyone would accept and agree to from a fair position." Rawls employs a number of thought experiments—including the famous veil of ignorance—to determine what constitutes a fair agreement in which "everyone is impartially situated as equals," in order to determine principles of social justice.

Rawls received both the Schock Prize for Logic and Philosophy and the National Humanities Medal in 1999, the latter presented by President Bill Clinton, in recognition of how Rawls's thought "helped a whole generation of learned Americans revive their faith in democracy itself."

Reviews

[Kramer Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I quite liked the section in here on Hume, and the Hegel section was also fairly enjoyable. However, I found the sections on Leibniz quite confusing, and many of the Kant sections tedious. That said, this may just have been due to the fact that the sections were about Leibniz and Kant (making Kant enjoyable would have been quite impressive). Still, I found much of this book quite difficult to remain engaged with. I suspect Rawls's writing style, at least in this book, just does not mesh properly with me. Despite all this, Rawls's discussions of many topics within the entire book are balanced and insightful, and I think my understanding of the four philosophers he discusses has been improved.

[Arbitrista · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's an amazing thing to read an interpretation of the great thinkers of moral philosophy from a great moral philosopher. I suppose that in some sense every work of ethics is a commentary on past works, but Rawls's approach is deeply respectful of his interlocutors. He isn't trying to score points off of them here - he is trying to teach his students to appreciate the strengths of given ways of thought in their own terms. We should all be so lucky.

[Emily Chen · Rating 5 out of 5]

the thing about rawls is that the way he writes is so incredibly accessible and succinct. but i don’t agree with his ideas. so the solution is to get him to write about other philosophers 💅💅 aptly captured the complexity of hume and kant

[Flavio Comim · Rating 5 out of 5]

essencial reading

[فيصل]

طيب، سأترك الكتاب بلا تقييم للآن، ولكني سأكتب توضيحاً عن محتويات الكتاب بحكم التزامي بهذه العادة مع كل كتاب لا تتوفر مراجعة عربية له.

في البداية كنت أتوقع أن المحاضرات في الكتاب تتناول "تاريخ فلسفة الأخلاق" بشكل شمولي ووافي، ولكن الاكتشاف الأول كان أن الكتاب يكتفي بتحليل أفكار أربعة فلاسفة في الأخلاق، وهؤلاء الفلاسفة هم: هيوم، لايبنتز، كانط، وهيجل. الكتاب "تقني" بحت إن صح التعبير، ولا عجب لأنه مستقى من محاضراتلجامعية، يحاول الكتاب توضيح الجانب الأخلاقي من فلسفة المفكرين المذكورين، مع توضيح الإطار العام لفلسفتهم تجاه العقل، وبالتالي تناولهم لمسألة الأخلاق. رغم محاولة الشارح لتوضيح الأطر العامة لهذه الفلسفات، فإن القراءة تصبح عسيرة في أجزاء معينة مالم يكن القارئ ملماً بتفاصيل الفلسفة التي يتناولها الشارح، بداية شرحه لفلسفة هيوم كانت واضحة بالنسبة لي، وازدادت وعورة مع مرور الوقت، محاضرات لايبنتز كانت أكثر بساطة، أما القسم الخاص بكانط فكان الأكثر صعوبة -بالنسبة لي-. سأعيد قراءته بالإضافة لقراءة الأجزاء الخاصة بهيجل (والتي لم أقرأها بعد) لاحقاً عندما أطلع بعمق أكبر على أفكارهما، إن كان في العمر بقية :)

[Zo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good overview and means of comparing Hume/Leibniz/Kant/Hegel's moral philosophies. Rawls' own interjections and criticisms were always appreciated; in fact, I wish he had done more editorializing. I came to this book after months of feeling like I had become "more Kantian" in my own moral philosophy; I wanted to read Rawls to better understand Kant's doctrine, and, theoretically, come to appreciate it even more. Curiously, despite Rawls own Kantian affinities, I found his presentation of Hume and Hegel more compelling than what he said about Kant, or at least relative to my previous inclinations. The sophistication of Hume's moral psychology, and his thoroughgoing naturalism, is hard to argue with -- though Rawls' points about the existence of substantial reason-based deliberation even within Hume's own terms are strong. Hegel's conceptions of freedom as realized in social/civic institutions, his attention to historical circumstances and virtue as something realizable only within a specific context, and his top-down perspective on the morality of the state are all positions I find compelling. I still find much of Kantian social contract theory and universalizable reason compelling, but much of Rawls' presentation made me realize how idealistic and empty Kant's conception of the moral law is (same for Kingdom of Ends and many related notions), and that his lack of attention to context/history really is problematic. Not to mention the Kant material felt drier than anything else. Maybe that is due to the complexity of Kant's ideas, and I likely didn't appreciate the nuance of many of his positions, but maybe it is because there is something stiff and empty about Kantian ethics compared to others. I want to continue engaging with this tradition of ideas and related debates, but this was likely enough for a while. It can feel so disconnected from any real moral or political concerns.

[Hugo · Rating 5 out of 5]

No es exactamente el libro que leí.
El que leí no está en Goodreads: Rawls. La justicia es la virtud más importante de una sociedad democrática. De la colección: Aprender a Pensar. Texto: Joan Vergés Gifra.
Muy ilustrativa revisión de parte de la vida y obra de este gran filósofo político, el más importante del s. XX.

[Diah Ernawati · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book

[isabela baldini · Rating 2 out of 5]

🤔

[Micah · Rating 3 out of 5]

ten lectures on Kant, but only two on the greatest philosopher to ever live: Wilhelm Gottfried Leibneiz

[Craig Bolton]

Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy by John Rawls (2000)

[Jonny Berglind · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant account of the history of moral philosophy.

['stina]

Picked up at Diverseworks Book swap on 12/19/12

[Alessandro Veneri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una raccolta che mantiene il carattere parlato delle lezioni, elaborata da uno dei maggiori filosofi politici del secolo scorso. La dottrina morale in Hume, Leibniz, Kant (10 lezioni, il grosso del volume), e alcuni elementi di filosofia del diritto di Hegel.

[j.]

it's just like being there, copying someone's lecture notes