Kant on Morality, Humanity, and Legality Practical Dimensions of Normativity

It was not so long ago that the dominant picture of Kant’s practical philosophy was forma­listic, focusing almost exclusively on his Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals and Critique of Practical Reason. However, the overall picture of Kant’s wide-ranging philosophy has since been broadened and deepened. We now have a much more complete understanding of the range of Kant’s practical interests and of his contributions to areas as diverse as anthropology, peda­gogy, and legal theory. What remains somewhat obscure, however, is how these different contributions hang together in the way that Kant suggests that they must. This book explores these different conceptions of humanity, morality, and legality in Kant as main ‘manifestations’ or ‘dimensions’ of practical normativity. These interrelated terms play a cru­cial role in highlighting different rational obligations, their source(s), and their appli­cability in the face of changing circumstances.

1.Introduction: Dimensions of Normativity

Part I: Morality

2. ‘Why be moral?’: How to take the question seriously (and why) from a Kantian perspective’

3. Deceptive unity and productive disunity: Kant’s account of situated moral selves

4. It’s All About Power: The Deep Structure of Kant’s Categorical Imperative and its Three Formulations

5. Categorical Imperative and Human Nature, by Oliver Sensen

Part II: Humanity

6. Motivating Humanity

7. Humans-Only Norms: An Unexpected Kantian Story

9. How Common is Common Human Reason? The Plurality of Moral Perspectives and Kant’s Ethics

10. The Philosopher’s Medicine of the Mind: Kant’s Account of Mental Illness and the Normativity of Thinking

Part III: Legality

11. “Eleutheronomy”: The Esoterically Political Character of Kant's Practical Philosophy

12. Kant and Privacy

13. Kant and the Provisionality of Property

Ansgar Lyssy is a researcher at the University of Heidelberg, Germany.