G. A. Cohen
Jonathan Wolff (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691149004
- eISBN:
- 9781400848713
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691149004.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This chapter examines Immanuel Kant's ethics, and particularly his views on reason and faith. According to Thomas Aquinas, there were two avenues whereby men could come to possess knowledge: the way ...
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This chapter examines Immanuel Kant's ethics, and particularly his views on reason and faith. According to Thomas Aquinas, there were two avenues whereby men could come to possess knowledge: the way of reason and the way of faith, of faith in revelation. Unlike Aquinas, Kant entertains not two faculties, but a single faculty in two employments. The chapter considers Kant's motives, and what he advanced as justifications, for treating the sources of knowledge and of moral behavior not as two separate faculties, but as different employments of a single faculty, reason. It offers a general account of Kant's moral philosophy, and more specifically his account of reason and his argument that men are obliged to obey the moral law. It also suggests that the duality of obligation and motivation is present in Kant's ethics and compares Kant's ideas with those of Richard Peters regarding human behavior.Less
This chapter examines Immanuel Kant's ethics, and particularly his views on reason and faith. According to Thomas Aquinas, there were two avenues whereby men could come to possess knowledge: the way of reason and the way of faith, of faith in revelation. Unlike Aquinas, Kant entertains not two faculties, but a single faculty in two employments. The chapter considers Kant's motives, and what he advanced as justifications, for treating the sources of knowledge and of moral behavior not as two separate faculties, but as different employments of a single faculty, reason. It offers a general account of Kant's moral philosophy, and more specifically his account of reason and his argument that men are obliged to obey the moral law. It also suggests that the duality of obligation and motivation is present in Kant's ethics and compares Kant's ideas with those of Richard Peters regarding human behavior.
Carla J. Mulford
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- June 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199384198
- eISBN:
- 9780199384211
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199384198.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 18th Century and Early American Literature
Along with the previous and next chapters, this chapter discusses Franklin’s goals for Pennsylvania in negotiations with the Pennsylvania Proprietors, Crown, and Parliament. He was seeking for ...
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Along with the previous and next chapters, this chapter discusses Franklin’s goals for Pennsylvania in negotiations with the Pennsylvania Proprietors, Crown, and Parliament. He was seeking for Pennsylvania an administrative policy that would establish—among all the colonies—an equable laboring and trading situation with Britain, in effect creating a commonwealth (and commonly held ideas about liberties and benefits) among all trading partners. Examining Franklin’s responses to Pennsylvania politics creates a backdrop to our understanding of his ideas about what ought to be the purposes and goals of empire, especially regarding manufacturing and commercial freedom, self-rule, and self-determination. Franklin’s work as a tradesman interested in social projects, his service to Philadelphia, and his concerns about the Assembly’s relationship to the Proprietors, especially as these related to the essential need to defend the Pennsylvania colony—these form the basis of this chapter.Less
Along with the previous and next chapters, this chapter discusses Franklin’s goals for Pennsylvania in negotiations with the Pennsylvania Proprietors, Crown, and Parliament. He was seeking for Pennsylvania an administrative policy that would establish—among all the colonies—an equable laboring and trading situation with Britain, in effect creating a commonwealth (and commonly held ideas about liberties and benefits) among all trading partners. Examining Franklin’s responses to Pennsylvania politics creates a backdrop to our understanding of his ideas about what ought to be the purposes and goals of empire, especially regarding manufacturing and commercial freedom, self-rule, and self-determination. Franklin’s work as a tradesman interested in social projects, his service to Philadelphia, and his concerns about the Assembly’s relationship to the Proprietors, especially as these related to the essential need to defend the Pennsylvania colony—these form the basis of this chapter.