In Kant on Conscience Emre Kazim offers the first systematic treatment of Kantâs theory of conscience. Contrary to the scholarly consensus, Kazim argues that Kantâs various discussions of conscience - as practical reason, as a feeling, as a power, as a court, as judgement, as the voice of God, etc. - are philosophically coherent aspects of the same unified thing (âUnity Thesisâ). Through conceptual reconstruction and historical contextualisation of the primary texts, Kazim both presents Kantâs notion of conscience as it relates to his critical thought and philosophically evaluates the coherence of his various claims. In light of this, Kazim shows the central role that conscience plays in the understanding of Kantian ethics as a whole.
Emre Kazim, Ph.D. (2016), Kingâs College London, is currently researching the development of Early Modern ethical thought. His interests also include the history of secularism and political normativity.
Acknowledgements
Key to Abbreviations and Translations of Kant
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Outline of Chapters
Chapter 2 Conscience: The Judgement and its Feeling
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Moral Feelings
2.3 Intellectual Conscience and Moral Feeling
2.4 Conscience as Judgement
2.5 The Motivation of Conscience
2.6 Moyar: Conscience as Constitutive of Moral Judgement
2.7 Conclusion
Chapter 3 The Errors and Failures of Conscience
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Absurdity Thesis
3.3 Subjective Certainty
3.4 Conscientiousness
3.5 Conscience and Moral Failures and Errors
3.6 Conclusion
Chapter 4 Conscience and Internal Lies
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Lying as intentional untruth
4.3 Lying: Violation of Duty to Oneself and to Others
4.4 Lying: Right and Virtue
4.4.1 Lying qua Right
4.4.2 Lying qua Virtue: Internal and External Lies
4.5 Internal Lies and Conscience
4.6 Conclusion
Chapter 5 The Cultivation of Conscience and Moral Self-Improvement
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Moral Self-Improvement
5.3 Pragmatic Perfection
5.4 The Cultivation of Conscience as an Indirect Duty
5.5 Moral Ideals: the Moral World and the Ideal of Holiness
5.6 The Rational Religious Representation of the Internal Court of Conscience
5.7 Why have Religious Representations at all?
5.8 Conclusion
Chapter 6 Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
All interested in Kantian ethics, the History of Ethics and Early Modern Philosophy.