Practical Philosophy

By Immanuel Kant

Book Overview

This 1997 book was the first English translation of all of Kant's writings on moral and political philosophy collected in a single volume. No other collection competes with the comprehensiveness of this one. As well as Kant's most famous moral and political writings, the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, the Critique of Practical Reason, the Metaphysics of Morals, and Toward Perpetual Peace, the volume includes shorter essays and reviews, some of which have never been translated before. The volume has been furnished with a substantial editorial apparatus including translator's introductions and explanatory notes to each text by Mary Gregor, and a general introduction to Kant's moral and political philosophy by Allen Wood. There is also an English-German and German-English glossary of key terms.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521654084
• ISBN13: 9780521654081
• Release Date: June 1999
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 706 Pages
• Weight: 2.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

The Definitive Edition of Kant's Practical Works

This volume should become the indispensable English-language edition of Kant's practical works. The translations contained in this edition are top-notch, which is not to say that I agree with all the decisions made by Mary Gregor, the primary translator. However, unlike, say, the Cambridge Edition translations of the First and Third Critiques, Gregor's translations are arguably categorically better than all other English translations. I personally do not believe that to be the case, but the point is that such a case can plausibly be made, whereas it cannot be said with equal plausibility that the Guyer-Wood translation of the First Critique is categorically better than the Kemp Smith translation (I know others would beg to differ, but this is not the place to take up my disagrements with them; I would merely stress that I do not deny that Guyer-Wood have made many improvements over Kemp Smith).Furthermore, the inclusion of The Metaphysics of Morals in its entirety ought to alleviate a certain one-sidedness in most treatments of Kant in introductory survey courses of the history of moral/political philosophy. These courses typically concentrate on the Grounding and the shorter essays--understandably so, given time contraints. Occasionally the Second Critique will be touched upon. Nor is this one-sidedness confined to survey or even advanced undergraduate courses. I have taken three graduate seminars on Kant and one on German Idealism in three departments at two different universities, and not once did I ever read The Metaphysics of Morals in its entirety. The student who wishes to gain a complete picture of Kant will be glad to have this important work included.The convenience of having good translations of foundational works, unabridged and collected in a single volume, cannot be overstated. Every serious student of Kant, German Idealism, or moral or practical philosophy ought to own this book.