This is a major new study of Kant's ethics that will transform the way students and scholars approach the subject in the future. Allen Wood argues that Kant's ethical vision is grounded in the idea of the dignity of the rational nature of every human being. He focuses for the first time on the central role played in Kant's ethical theory by the value of rational nature as an end in itself. In addition, he shows the importance of Kant's systematic theory of human nature and history, and its implications for the structure, formulation, and application of Kant's moral principles.

In this book Gary Gutting offers a powerful account of the nature of human reason in modern times. The fundamental question addressed by the book is what authority human reason can still claim once it is acknowledged that our fundamental metaphysical and religious pictures of the world no longer command allegiance. Gutting analyzes the work of three dominant philosophical voices in our time: Richard Rorty, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Charles Taylor. His own position is defined as "pragmatic liberalism." The book will appeal to readers in such fields as philosophy, literature, and political...

Originally published in German in 1995, this collection of essays has been written by the foremost representative of the hermeneutical approach in German philosophy. Offering a novel interpretation of the tradition of German Idealist thought--Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel--RUdiger Bubner insightfully reviews the philosophical innovations in the complex of issues and aspirations which dominated German intellectual life from 1780 to 1830. This collection will be of special interest to students of German philosophy, literary theory and the history of ideas.

Addresses the problem that Strauss said was the theme of his studies: the theologico-political problem.

Hegel is, arguably, the most difficult of all philosophers. Interpreters have usually approached him as though he were developing Kantian and Fichtean themes. This book is the first to demonstrate in a systematic way that it makes much more sense to view Hegel's idealism in relation to the metaphysical and epistemological tradition stemming from Aristotle. No serious student of Hegel can afford to ignore this major new interpretation. It will also be of interest in such fields as political science and the history of ideas.

It has been argued that Kant's all-consuming efforts to place autonomy at the center of philosophy has had, in the long-run, the unintended effect of leading to the widespread discrediting of philosophy and of undermining the notion of autonomy itself. The result of this "Copernican revolution" has seemed to many commentators the de-centering, if not the self-destruction, of the autonomous self. Ameriks challenges the presumptions that dominate popular approaches to the concept of freedom, and to the interpretation of the relation among the Enlightenment, Kant and post-Kantian thought.

This book constitutes one of the most important contributions to recent Kant scholarship. In it, one of the preeminent interpreters of Kant, Henry Allison, offers a comprehensive, systematic, and philosophically astute account of all aspects of Kant's views on aesthetics. An authoritative guide to the Critique of Aesthetic Judgment (the first and most important part of the Critique of Judgment), no one with a serious interest in Kant's aesthetics can afford to ignore this groundbreaking study.

Allen Speight argues that behind Hegel's extraordinary appeal to literature in the Phenomenology of Spirit lies a philosophical project concerned with understanding human agency in the modern world. It shows that Hegel looked to three literary genres--tragedy, comedy, and the romantic novel--as offering privileged access to three moments of human agency: retrospectivity, theatricality, and forgiveness. Taking full account of the authors that Hegel himself refers to (Sophocles, Diderot, Schlegel, Jacobi), Allen Speight has written a book with a broad appeal to both philosophers and literary...

This text presents a comprehensive but practical overview of how to develop and implement effective survey projects. This book presents a comprehensive but practical overview of the different phases and activities involved in the development and implementation of effective survey projects by language teaching professionals. It is accessible to graduate students, language teachers, administrators, and researchers. The theoretical and practical issues involved in survey design are defined and discussed. Each chapter includes a list of key terms, a set of review questions, and a collection of...

These challenging essays defend Romanticism against its critics. They argue that Romantic thought, interpreted as the pursuit of freedom in concrete contexts, remains a central and exemplary form of both artistic work and philosophical understanding. Richard Eldridge traces the central features of Romantic thinking and shows that Romanticism is neither emptily literary and escapist nor dogmatically optimistic and sentimental. The first serious philosophical defense of the ethical ideals of Romanticism, this volume will appeal particularly to all professionals and students in philosophy,...