Human Welfare and Moral Worth: Kantian Perspectives

by Thomas E. Hill Jr.

Thomas Hill presents a set of essays exploring the implications of basic Kantian ideas for practical issues. The first part of the book provides background in central themes in Kant's ethics; the second part discusses questions regarding human welfare; the third focuses on moral worth - the nature and grounds of moral assessment of persons as deserving esteem or blame. Hill shows moral, political and social philosophers just how valuable moral theory can be in addressing practical matters.

428 pages, Hardcover

First published July 11, 2002

About the author

Thomas E. Hill, Jr., received an AB from Harvard College, a BPhil as a Rhodes Scholar from the University of Oxford, and a PhD from Harvard University. He is author of Autonomy and Self-Respect (CUP), Dignity and Practical Reason in Kant's Moral Theory (Cornell University Press), Respect, Pluralism, and Justice (OUP), and Human Welfare and Moral Worth (OUP). He edited the Blackwell Guide to Kant's Ethics (Wiley-Blackwell) and, with Arnulf Zweig, co-edited Kant's Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (OUPs). He taught briefly at the Johns Hopkins University and Pomona College, at UCLA for sixteen years, as a visitor at Stanford University and the University of Minnesota, and is currently Kenan Professor in philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His essays explore a wide range of topics in moral and political philosophy, with special interest in Kant and broadly Kantian perspectives on practical issues.