Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals

210 Pages·2005·0.877 MB·English

by  Immanuel Kant, Lara Denis

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COMMON SENSE
GROUNDWORK
FOR THE METAPHYSICS OF
MORALS
broadview editions
series editor: L.W. Conolly
MEMOIRSOFMODERNPHILOSOPHERS 1
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GROUNDWORK
FOR THE METAPHYSICS OF
MORALS
Immanuel Kant
translated by Thomas K.Abbott
with revisions by Lara Denis
edited by Lara Denis
broadview editions
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©2005 Lara Denis
All rights reserved.The use of any part of this publication reproduced,transmitted in any form
or by any means,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,or otherwise,or stored in a
retrieval system,without prior written consent of the publisher — or in the case of photocopy-
ing,a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency),One Yonge
Street,Suite 1900,Toronto,Ontario M5E 1E5 — is an infringement of the copyright law.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Kant,Immanuel,1724–1804.
Groundwork for the metaphysics of morals / by Immanuel Kant;translated by Thomas
K.Abbott;with revisions by Lara Denis;edited by Lara Denis.
(Broadview editions)
Translation of:Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-55111-539-5
1.Ethics—Early works to 1800. I.Abbott,Thomas Kingsmill,1829-1913 II. Denis,
Lara,1969- III.Title. IV.Series.
B2766.E6D45 2005 170 C2005-900068-6
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For Emmanuel Tseklenis Denis
and Lorraine Williams Denis
GROUNDWORK 5
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6 INTRODUCTION
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Contents
Acknowledgements • 9
Introduction • 11
Immanuel Kant:A Brief Chronology • 43
A Note on the Text • 45
Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals • 47
Preface • 49
First Section:Transition from the Common Rational Moral
Cognition to the Philosophical Moral Cognition • 55
Second Section:Transition from Popular Moral Philosophy to
the Metaphysics of Morals • 67
Third Section:Transition from the Metaphysics of Morals to
the Critique of Pure Practical Reason • 103
Appendix A:Immanuel Kant,“An Answer to the Question:
What is Enlightenment?”(1784) • 119
Appendix B:From Immanuel Kant,Critique of Practical
Reason(1788) • 127
Appendix C:From Immanuel Kant,“On the Common Saying:
‘This May Be True in Theory,but It Does Not Apply in
Practice’”(1793) • 141
Appendix D:From Immanuel Kant,Religion within the Limits
of Reason Alone(1793,1794) • 149
Appendix E:From Immanuel Kant,Metaphysics of Morals
(1797) • 153
Appendix F:From a Letter from Johann Gottlieb Fichte to
Karl Leonhard Reinhold (1795) • 175
Appendix G:From Friedrich von Schiller and Wolfgang von
Goethe,Xenian(1796) • 177
Appendix H:From Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel,Lectures on
the History of Philosophy(1831) • 179
Appendix I:From Henry Sidgwick,The Methods of Ethics
(1907) • 181
Suggested Reading • 189
Index • 195
GROUNDWORK 7
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8 CONTENTS
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Don LePan for encouraging me to submit a
proposal for Kant’s Groundwork to Broadview, Julia Gaunce for
assisting me during the proposal process,and the anonymous ref-
erees for helping me refine my proposal.Thanks to Bill Bristow
for helping me decide what should be included in the appendices,
to Rebecca Yurman for proofreading a partial draft of the manu-
script, and to Frederick Raucher for commenting on the entire
manuscript.Thanks also to Barbara M.Conolly,Leonard Conol-
ly,Kathryn Prince,Tania Therien,and everyone else at Broadview
who helped turn the manuscript into this book.Finally,thanks to
my husband,Roger Wertheimer,for commenting on a draft of the
introduction,and (more importantly) for being a constant source
of love and support,as well as a frequent source of perplexity and
amusement.
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10 INTRODUCTION