Freedom After Kant: From German Idealism to Ethics and the Self

Description

Freedom after Kant situates Kant's concept of freedom in relation to leading philosophers of the period to trace a detailed history of philosophical thinking on freedom from the 18th to the 20th century. Beginning with German Idealism, the volume presents Kant's writings on freedom and their reception by contemporaries, successors, followers and critics. From exchanges of philosophical ideas on freedom between Kant and his contemporaries, Reinhold and Fichte, through to Kant's ideas on rational self-determination in Hegel and Schelling, we see Kant's original arguments transformed through concepts of autonomy, freedom and absolutes. The political aspect of Kant's freedom finds further articulation in chapters on Marx and Mill who developed their own notions of political freedom after Kant. Revealing how Kant's concept of freedom shaped the history of philosophy in the broadest sense, contributors chart the development of an ethics of freedom in the 20th century which brings Kant into conversation with Heidegger, Beauvoir, Sartre, Levinas and Murdoch. This line of thinking on freedom signals a new departure for Kantian studies which brings his ideas into the present day and traverses major schools of thought including Idealism, Marxism, existentialism and moral philosophy. Acknowledgements Notes on contributors Introduction Part 1. The eighteenth century: Kant and his contemporaries; freedom and normativity Part 2. The nineteenth century: The post-Kantians, idealists and pragmatists; nature, politics and experience Part 3. The twentieth century: New developments;freedom, the self and others Notes References 1 Freedom, radical evil and ‘ought implies can’: A problem for Kant Robert Stern 1. Evil, grace and freedom – and ‘ought implies can’ 2. ‘Ought implies can’: Rebutting the argument from pointlessness 3. ‘Ought implies can’: Rebutting the argument from justice Notes References 2 Reinhold on free will and moral obligation: A Kantian response Jochen Bojanowski 1. Reinhold’s definitions of free will 2. Embracing Reinhold’s theory of free will 3. Resisting Reinhold’s theory of free will 4. Response to critics Conclusion References 3 Kant and the fate of freedom: 1788–1800 Owen Ware 1. Introduction 2. Kant and the causality of freedom 3. ‘Necessity everywhere’: Ulrich’s charge 4. The ‘non-entity’ of freedom: Creuzer’s complaint 5. A ‘higher legislation’: Fichte to the rescue 6. The ‘real issue’ of freedom: Schelling in 1795 7. The ‘genesis’ of freedom: Fichte in 1798 8. The ‘weaving of an unknown hand’: Schelling in 1800 9. Closing remarks Abbreviations Notes References 4 Fichte on self-sufficiency and teleology Gabriel Gottlieb 1. Introduction 2. Fichte’s deduction of the moral principle 3. Self-sufficiency and conceptual formation 4. Self-sufficiency, striving and the infinite 5. Conclusion Notes References 5 The feeling of freedom: Schelling on the role of freedom in grasping nature Dalia Nassar 1. Background 2. Schelling’s alternative 3. Freedom and compulsion 4. Conclusion Notes References 6 Is autonomy sufficient for freedom? Charlotte Alderwick 1. Negative freedom and laws of nature: Freedom in the Critique of Pure Reason 1.1 The second analogy and natural laws 1.2 The third antinomy and the possibility for autonomy 2. The Groundwork: Autonomy, rational self-determination and transcendental freedom 2.1 Freedom as autonomy in the Groundwork 2.2 The formula of universal law 2.3 Summary 3. Rational self-determination in Schelling’s Naturphilosophie 3.1 The Naturphilosophie and the Critique of Judgement 3.2 The Naturphilosophie 3.3 The breakdown of autonomy in the Naturphilosophie 3.4 Schelling’s new directions Notes References 7 Freedom and Hegel’s theory of the state Christoph Schuringa 1. Introduction 2. Freedom as the topic of the Philosophy of Right 3. Empirical and true freedom in Hegel’s early texts 4. Universality and individuality 5. A dualism in the Philosophy of Right 6. In the direction of a solution Notes References Primary texts Secondary texts 8 ‘In and through their association’: Freedom and communism in Marx Andrew Chitty and Jan Kandiyali 1. Introduction 2. Freedom ‘in and through’ association 3. Free activity as voluntary self-realization 4. Communism and the enablement of freedom 5. Marx and Kant on freedom Acknowledgements Notes References 9 Mill on freedom, normativity and spontaneity Christopher Macleod 1. The determinacy of mind 2. Mechanism and normativity 3. Mechanism and will 4. Mechanism and spontaneity Notes References 10 Practical grounds for freedom: Kant and James on freedom, experience and an open future Joe Saunders and Neil Williams 1. Introduction 2. Kant’s ‘compatibilism’ 3. James, chance, and an open future 4. Kant, James and the location of freedom 5. Conclusion Notes Bibliography Other Referenced Texts 11 Levinas and finite freedom James H.P. Lewis and Simon Thornton 1. Introduction 2. Shapeless freedom and the element 3. Infinite freedom and the will 4. A tension: Heteronomy 5. A further tension: Social dependence 6. Finite freedom and antagonism 7. Conclusion Notes References 12 Rethinking existentialism: From radical freedom to project sedimentation Jonathan Webber 1. Sartre’s theory of radical freedom 2. Beauvoir’s theory of project sedimentation 3. Sedimentation and rational autonomy 4. Projects as commitments 5. Projects and cultural values 6. Sedimentation, culture and freedom 7. The transformation of Sartre’s philosophy Notes References 13 Murdoch and freedom Ana Barandalla 1. Introduction 2. The structure of the concept of freedom 3. Freedom: “the movement of the lonely will” 4. Freedom in Murdoch 5. Murdoch’s individual 6. Murdoch’s morality 7. Murdoch’s freedom 8. Constitutivism 9. Murdoch and constitutivist freedom 10. Constitutivism and Murdoch’s wish list 11. Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index