The Form of Practical Knowledge: A Study of the Categorical Imperative

by Stephen P. Engstrom

Immanuel Kant’s claim that the categorical imperative of morality is based in practical reason has long been a source of puzzlement and doubt, even for sympathetic interpreters. Kant’s own explanations, which mainly concern his often-criticized formula of universal law, are laconic and obscure, leading interpreters to dismiss them in favor of less ambitious claims involving his other famous formulas.

In The Form of Practical Knowledge, Stephen Engstrom provides an illuminating new interpretation of the categorical imperative, arguing that we have exaggerated and misconceived Kant’s break with Kant never departs from the classical conception of practical reason as a capacity for knowledge of the good. His distinctive contribution is the idea that morality’s imperatives express the form of such knowledge.

By developing an account of practical knowledge that situates Kant’s ethics within his broader epistemology and rethinks numerous topics in his moral psychology and in his account of practical reason (including desire, intention, choice, will, as well as pleasure, happiness, and the good), Engstrom’s work promises to deepen and to reshape our understanding of Kantian ethics.

Genres: Philosophy

278 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 2009

Reviews

[saml · Rating 2 out of 5]

enjoyed the ending a lot!! but this was mostly pretty boring. there's a certain kind of writing that feels like being opened by a hundred cuts. there's just plain old kant scholarship which isn't written to be read, and then there's narrative, embracing, deft philosophy that leaves you with the feeling you've learnt nothing at all. this sits somewhere in the middle. but i mean, i spose it might be true and all

[Lucas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps the most rewarding contemporary Kantbuch to work through, a true delight

[Russell]

I'm about 100 pgs in and I have to say that I find the writing style nearly intolerable. So many subordinate clauses. It's like reading Kant auf Deutsch: you forget what the hell he was talking about by the time you see the verb at the end of the sentence. Engstrom has expertly created a similar experience. Part of the trouble is the overuse of commas: prepositional phrases, eg. So blame can go to editors too.

On an unrelated topic, I find what's being said very interesting. ...

[Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome. Very difficult (I don't recommend it to the philosophically uninitiated), but also awe-inspiring in its vision for the underlying synthesis of Kant's practical thought. I can't really imagine a better corrective to all of the caricatures of Kant's ethics than this one. It is particularly good for appreciating Kant's affinity with Aristotle.

Fair warning that Engstrom does write like a hard core Kant scholar, which is to say, like Kant. Difficult, for sure.