Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
In Rescuing Autonomy from Kant, James Furner convincingly argues that Marxism should be deeply interested in Immanuel Kant's ethics, but on a critical basis. Although Kant's formulas of the categorical imperative presuppose a belief in God that Kant cannot motivate, his insistence on autonomy is not only compatible with Marxism, but can be rescued from his idealism by grounding it in an antinomy in capitalism's basic structure. In Furner's account, this move helps form the basis for a Marxist ethic that commits us to socialism.
Synopsis
In
Rescuing Autonomy from Kant, James Furner argues that Marxism's
relation to Kant's ethics is not one of irrelevance, complementarity or
incompatibility, but critique. Although Kant's formulas of the
categorical imperative presuppose a belief in God that
Kant cannot motivate, the value of autonomy can instead be grounded by
appeal to an antinomy in capitalism's basic structure, and this commits us to socialism.