Kant's Critique, Radical Evil, and the Destiny of Humankind

The Social Authority of Reason: Kant's Critique, Radical Evil, and the Destiny of Humankind
(SUNY Series in Philosophy)
by Philip J. Rossi

In "The Social Authority of Reason, Philip J. Rossi, SJ argues that the current cultural milieu of globalization is strikingly reflective of the human condition appraised by kant, in which mutual social interaction for human good is hamstrung by our contentious "unsociable sociability." He situates the paradoxical nature of contemporary society--"its opportunities for deepening the bonds of our common human mutuality along with its potential for enlarging the fissures that arise from our human differences--"in the context of Kant's notion of radical evil. As a corrective, Rossi proposes that we draw upon the social charcater of Kant's critique of reason, which offers a communal trajectory for human moral effort and action. This trajectory still has power to open the path to what Kant called "the highest political good"--"lasting peace among nations.

categorical imperative, still (a distilling one), touchs

Kant's Search for the Supreme Principle of Morality

"The writing is impeccably clear throughout, and given the intricate subject matter, even elegant." Rudiger Bittner, author of What Reason Demands

"...the author joins the discussion of the grounds for a moral theory that has preoccupied philosophers for some time, and advances that discussion significantly further. This is a book that will be required reading for those interested in that topic of Kant's moral theory." Roger Sullivan, Author of Immanuel Kant's Moral Theory and An Introduction to Kant's Ethics

"[Kerstein's] is a very level-headed approach that takes both Kant's texts and those of his commentators and critics seriously... [his] down-to-earth approach would certainly not upset an author who wrote for an 'age of criticism, to which everything must submit.'" Ethics

Book Description
At the core of Kant's ethics lies the claim that if there is a supreme principle of morality, then it is not a utilitarian or Aristotelian perfectionist principle, or even a principle resembling the Ten Commandments. The only viable candidate for the supreme principle of morality is the Categorial Imperative. This book is the most detailed investigation of thie claim. It constructs a new, criterial reading of Kant's derivation of one version of the Categorial Imperative: The Formula of Universal Law. This reading shows this derivation to be far more compelling than contemporary philosophers tend to believe. It also reveals a novel approach to deriving another version of the Categorial Imperative, the Formula of Humanity, a principle widely considered to be the most attractive Kantian candidate for the supreme principle of morality. Lucidly written and dealing with a foundational topic in the history of ethics, this book will be important not just for Kant scholars but for a broad swath of students of philosophy. Samuel Kerstein is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Maryland, College Park

a better reading will be JL Nancy's Kategorein of Excess i n "a finite thinking"