Kant’s Search for the Supreme Principle of Morality

At the core of Kant’s ethics lies the claim that if there is a supreme principle of morality then it cannot be a principle based on utilitarianism or Aristotelian perfectionism or the Ten Commandments. The only viable candidate for such a principle is the categorical imperative. This book is the most detailed investigation of this claim. It constructs a new, criterial reading of Kant’s derivation of one version of the categorical imperative: the Formula of Universal Law. This reading shows this derivation to be far more compelling than contemporary philosophers tend to believe. It also reveals a novel approach to deriving another version of the categorical imperative, the Formula of Humanity, a principle widely considered to be the most attractive Kantian candidate for the supreme principle of morality. This book will be important not just for Kant scholars but for a broad swathe of students of philosophy.

• Important new interpretation of Kant’s categorical imperative • Topic is central enough to interest non-Kantians working on the history of ethics

Acknowledgments; Key to abbreviations and translations; Introduction: derivation, deduction, and the supreme principle of morality; 1. Fundamental concepts in Kant’s theory of agency; 2. Transcendental freedom and the derivation of the formula of universal law; 3. The derivation of the formula of humanity; 4. The derivation of the formula of universal law: a criterial reading; 5. Criteria for the supreme principle of morality; 6. Duty and moral worth; 7. Eliminating rivals to the categorical imperative; 8. Conclusions: Kant’s candidates for the supreme principle of morality; Notes; Index.

‘… the author joins the discussion of the grounds for a moral theory that has preoccupied philosophers for some time, and advances that discussion significantly further. This is a book that will be required reading for those interested in that topic of Kant’s moral theory.’

– Roger Sullivan, author of Immanuel Kant\'s Moral Theory and An Introduction to Kant\'s Ethics