Browsing FAS Scholarly Articles by Keyword "Kant"
Now showing items 1-10 of 10
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Acting for a Reason
(Oxford University Press, 2008)Starting from the debate over whether practical reasons are mental states or the facts to which those mental states are a response, this chapter argues that being motivated by a practical reason must be a reflexive form ... -
Die Spontaneität des Verstandes bei Kant und einigen Neokantianern
(Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2015)Kant famously characterizes our human understanding as a “spontaneous” faculty, but what can this mean? I criticize some recent interpretations of Kant’s claim and suggest that we can only understand what Kant means by ... -
From Duty and for the Sake of the Noble: Kant and Aristotle on Morally Good Action
(Oxford University Press, 2008)Aristotle believes that an agent lacks virtue unless she enjoys the performance of virtuous actions, while Kant claims that the person who does her duty despite contrary inclinations exhibits a moral worth that the person ... -
Introduction to The Constitution of Agency
(Oxford University Press, 2008)This introductory chapter summarizes the themes of the book. It explains the general idea of self-constitution: that we constitute our agency by choosing our actions in accordance with the principles of practical reason. ... -
Kantian Ethics, Animals, and the Law
(Oxford University Press (OUP), 2013)Legal systems divide the world into persons and property, treating animals as property. Some animal rights advocates have proposed treating animals as persons. Another option is to introduce a third normative category. ... -
Natural Goodness, Rightness, and the Intersubjectivity of Reason: A Reply to Arroyo, Cummisky, Molan, and Bird-Pollan
(Wiley-Blackwell, 2011)In response to Arroyo, I explain my position on the concept of “natural goodness” and how my use of that concept compares to that of Geach and Foot. An Aristotelian or functional notion of goodness provides the material ... -
The Normativity of Instrumental Reason
(Oxford University Press, 2008)Most philosophers think it uncontroversial that practical reason requires us to take the means to our ends, but have been silent about the normative foundation of this requirement. The interesting question, almost everyone ... -
Realism and Constructivism in Twentieth Century Moral Philosophy
(Oxford University Press, 2008)This chapter traces the development of one of the central debates of late 20th-century moral philosophy — the debate between realism and what Rawls called “constructivism.” It argues that realism is a reactive position ... -
Self-Constitution in the Ethics of Plato and Kant
(Oxford University Press, 2008)Plato and Kant advance a "Constitutional Model" of the soul, in which reason and passion have different functional roles in the generation of motivation, as opposed to Hume's "Combat Model" in which they are portrayed as ... -
Taking the Law into Our Own Hands: Kant on the Right to Revolution
(Oxford University Press, 2008)Kant condemned revolution as a violation of a duty of justice, yet was a supporter of the French Revolution. This chapter defends Kant's view that revolution is a violation of a duty of justice by appeal to the fact that ...