"In this text, Kant sets out to articulate and defend the Categorical Imperative - the fundamental principle that underlies human moral reasoning - and to lay out the foundation for a comprehensive account of justice and human virtues. Here, Kant explains his conception of a good will and the special value he calls 'moral worth', analyses the difference between moral and non-moral reasons, and presents alternative formulations of the Categorical Imperative....

In Critique of judgment (1790), Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) seeks to establish the a priori principles underlying the faculty of judgement, just as he did in his previous critiques of pure and practical reason. The first part deals with the subject of our aesthetic sensibility; we respond to certain natural phenomena as beautiful, says Kant, when we recognise in nature a harmonious order that satisfies the mind's own need for order. The second half...

Kant describes the Anthropology as a systematic doctrine of the knowledge of humankind. (He does not yet distinguish between the academic discipline of anthropology as we understand it today and the philosophical.) Kant's lectures stressed the "pragmatic" approach to the subject because he intended to establish pragmatic anthropology as a regular academic discipline. He differentiates the physiological knowledge of the human race -- the investigation...

Descartes' "Meditations" probably rivals Plato's "Republic" as the work most frequently read or recommended as an introduction to philosophy. Its qualifications for this purpose are obvious: it is important, relatively short, well written, and seems--in the beginning at least--readily understandable. One of the most influential works in the history of Western thought, the "Meditations" has often been considered the keynote of modern philosophy. This...