1st Edition
Kantian and Sidgwickian Ethics The Cosmos of Duty Above and the Moral Law Within
Immanuel Kant and Henry Sidgwick are towering figures in the history of moral philosophy. Kant’s views on ethics continue to be discussed and studied in detail not only in philosophy, but also theology, political science, and legal theory. Meanwhile, Sidgwick is emerging as the philosopher within the utilitarian tradition who merits the same meticulous treatment that Kant receives. As champions of deontology and consequentialism respectively, Kant and Sidgwick disagree on many important issues. However, close examination reveals a surprising amount of consensus on various topics including moral psychology, moral epistemology, and moral theology.
This book presents points of agreement and disagreement in the writings of these two giants of philosophical ethics. The chapters will stimulate discussions among moral theorists and historians of philosophy by applying cutting-edge scholarship on each philosopher to shed light on some of the more perplexing arguments and views of the other, and by uncovering and examining points of agreement between Sidgwick and Kant as possible grounds for greater convergence in contemporary moral philosophy. This is the first full-length volume to investigate Sidgwick and Kant side by side. It will be of major interest to researchers and advanced students working in moral philosophy and its history.
Introduction
Tyler Paytas and Tim Henning
Part I. From Theory to Practice
1. Practical Ethics in Sidgwick and Kant
Anthony Skelton
2. Self-Defeating Moral Theories and Kant’s Doctrine of Right
Tim Henning
Part II. Moral Knowledge and Motivation
3. Sidgwick and Kant on Practical Knowledge and Rational Action
Carla Bagnoli
4. Sidgwick’s Kantian Account of Moral Motivation
David Phillips
Part III. Intuitionism and Disagreement
5. On Seeing What is Right: Sidgwick, Kant, and Philosophical Intuitionism
Roger Crisp
6. Peerless: Sidgwick, Kant, and Peer Disagreement
Robert Shaver
Part IV. Freedom of Will
7. Freedom and Happiness: Sidgwick’s Critique of Kant
Paul Guyer
8. Kant and Sidgwick on Freedom of Will, Morality, and Responsibility
Mariko Nakano-Okuno
Part V. Ultimate Ends
9. Aristotelian Eudaimonism and the Dualism of Practical Reason
Sukaina Hirji
10. Beneficent Governor of the Cosmos: Kant and Sidgwick on the Moral
Necessity of God
Tyler Paytas
Biography
Tyler Paytas is a Research Fellow in the Dianoia Institute of Philosophy at Australian Catholic University. His articles have appeared in Journal of the History of Philosophy, Kantian Review, Phronesis and Utilitas. He is the co-author (with Nicholas Baima) of Plato’s Pragmatism: Rethinking the Relationship between Ethics and Epistemology (Routledge, forthcoming).
Tim Henning is Professor and Chair of Practical Philosophy and History of Philosophy at the Universität Stuttgart. His articles have appeared in Ethics, Philosophy & Phenomenological Research, and The Philosophical Review. He is the author of From a Rational Point of View: How We Represent Subjective Perspectives in Practical Discourse.
