Kant's Critique of Practical Reason - POSTPONED!

Scope

cr 3-5

Teachers

Dr Jens Timmerman (Universities of St Andrews and Helsinki ) 297093

POSTPONED!

Dr Jens Timmermann, Universities of St Andrews and Helsinki (jt28@st-andrews.ac.uk)

Timetable:

  • Introduction: Kant’s second Critique
  • The Highest Good and the Antinomy (V 107–119)
  • The postulates of God and immortality (V 122–132)
  • Theoretical and practical reason (V 109–121, 134–148)
  • The Doctrine of Method (V 151–163)
  • ’Theory and Practice’ (VIII 275–289)

Compensations

Kf320, doctoral studies

Content

Course description:

The course will focus on major themes in the Dialectic and Doctrine of Method of second of Kant's three Critiques, the Critique of Practical Reason (1788), e.g. the nature of the Highest Good, the antinomy of pure practical reason, the primacy of practical reason, the doctrine of the postulates and Kant’s theory of applying the results of his critical ethics. In addition, we shall have a look at Kant’s essay on Theory and Practice (Section I), which is in a sense his own commentary on parts of the Critique of Practical Reason in the face of public criticism.

Course text:

  • Immanuel Kant, Critique of Practical Reason, trans. M. Gregor, either in: Kant, Practical Philosophy, Cambridge 1996 (also contains Kant’s essay on ‘Theory and Practice’); published separately, with an introduction by A. Reath, in the Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy series, Cambridge 1997 (both books available in paperback). The German original: I. Kant, Kritik der praktischen Vernunft, vol. V of the ‘academy edition’, Berlin 1908/13 (paperback, Berlin 1968); the essay on ‘Theory and Practice’ can be found in vol. VIII. References are to the pages of this edition, reprinted in the margin of Gregor’s translation. Texts are available for students in Philosophica library, Siltavuorenpenger 20 A.

Secondary Literature:

  • L. W. Beck, A Commentary on Kant’s Critique of Practical Reason, Chicago 1960
  • O. Höffe, ed., Immanuel Kant. Kritik der praktischen Vernunft, Berlin 2002 (with articles in both English and German)
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