Noble in Reason, Infinite in Faculty
Themes and Variations in Kants Moral and Religious Philosophy
Published on 10. September 2012
272 pages
978-1-134-61967-2 (ISBN)
Description
In this bold and innovative new work, Adrian Moore poses the question of whether it is possible for ethical thinking to be grounded in pure reason. In order to understand and answer this question, he takes a refreshing and challenging look at Kant's moral and religious philosophy.
Identifying three Kantian Themes - morality, freedom and religion - and presenting variations on each of these themes in turn, Moore concedes that there are difficulties with the Kantian view that morality can be governed by 'pure' reason. He does however defend a closely related view involving a notion of reason as socially and culturally conditioned. In the course of doing this, Moore considers in detail, ideas at the heart of Kant's thought, such as the categorical imperative, free will, evil, hope, eternal life and God. He also makes creative use of the ideas in contemporary philosophy, both within the analytic tradition and outside it, such as 'thick' ethical concepts, forms of life and 'becoming those that we are'. Throughout the book, a guiding precept is that to be rational is to make sense, and that nothing is of greater value to use than making sense.
Identifying three Kantian Themes - morality, freedom and religion - and presenting variations on each of these themes in turn, Moore concedes that there are difficulties with the Kantian view that morality can be governed by 'pure' reason. He does however defend a closely related view involving a notion of reason as socially and culturally conditioned. In the course of doing this, Moore considers in detail, ideas at the heart of Kant's thought, such as the categorical imperative, free will, evil, hope, eternal life and God. He also makes creative use of the ideas in contemporary philosophy, both within the analytic tradition and outside it, such as 'thick' ethical concepts, forms of life and 'becoming those that we are'. Throughout the book, a guiding precept is that to be rational is to make sense, and that nothing is of greater value to use than making sense.
Reviews / Votes
"Moore mines Kant for ethical insight with a sensibility informed by a wide range of recent and contemporary philosophers, from Ludwig Wittgenstein through Bernard Williams and Gilles Deleuze... a particularly helpful account of Kant's philosophy of religion..." - Paul Guyer, in Times Literary Supplement"...clearly written... numerous provocative insights... readers will benefit from the way in which familiar themes have been deployed and reconfigured for the sake of a fairly audacious result. Moore derives something like a substitute for postmodernity's lost sense of a grounding metanarrative from the human capacity for sense making... [His] project might... be viewed as the effort to infuse our very tendency towards sense making with renewed dignity." - Gordon E. Michalson, in Kantian Review 'It is refreshing to encounter a book dealing with Kant's practical philosophy that does not wear its readers down with quandaries about universalizability, autonomy, and the moral law ... it is time to try something different, and Moore has certainly done that.' - Robert B. Louden, Mind
'... an exceptionally thought-provoking and serious book by one of our most technically proficient, but at the same time imaginative - in short, one of our very best - contemporary philosophers. [A] rich and engaging book.' - Alan Montefiore, Balliol College Record
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Reflowable
File size
1,10 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-134-61967-2 (9781134619672)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
A.W. Moore
Noble in Reason, Infinite in Faculty
Themes and Variations in Kants Moral and Religious Philosophy
Book
08/2005
1st Edition
Routledge
€69.60
Shipment within 15-20 days
A.W. Moore
Noble in Reason, Infinite in Faculty
Themes and Variations in Kants Moral and Religious Philosophy
Book
02/2003
1st Edition
Routledge
€205.80
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
A.W. Moore is Tutorial Fellow in Philosophy at St Hugh's College, Oxford. He is the author of The Infinite (2nd edition, Routledge, 2001) and Points of View.
Content
Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 First theme: morality; Chapter 3 First set of variations; Chapter 4 Second theme: freedom; Chapter 5 Second set of variations; Chapter 6 Third theme: religion; Chapter 7 Third set of variations;
