Kant

This lucid survey takes readers on a thought-provoking tour through the life and work of Immanuel Kant. The book provides expositions of Kant's key works, especially his Critique of Pure Reason, and represents the broad range of his philosophical thought, including his contributions to metaphysics, epistemology, the philosophy of science, the philosophy of history, moral philosophy, aesthetics, politics and philosophy of religion.

The first volume in the Blackwell Great Minds series, Allen W. Wood’s Kant offers students, scholars and interested readers new insights into one of history's most important and influential philosophers.

This lucid survey takes readers on a thought-provoking tour through the life and work of Immanuel Kant.

• Offers an excellent introduction to the broad range of Kant’s philosophical thought.

• Provides an exposition of Kant’s major philosophical works, including the Critique of Pure Reason.

• Topics covered include Kant’s theory of empirical cognition, his doctrine of transcendental idealism, and his theory of the limits of reason.

This lucid survey takes readers on a thought-provoking tour through the life and work of Immanuel Kant.

Allen W. Wood is Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Professor at Stanford University. He is the author of seven books, including Hegel’s Ethical Thought (1990), Kant’s Ethical Thought (1999), Unsettling Obligations (2002) and Karl Marx (second edition, 2004). He is co-editor, with Paul Guyer, of the Critique of Pure Reason (1999).

"Both lively and magisterial..." Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

“Truly up-to-date overviews of Kant’s critical philosophy are rare. Allen Wood's outstanding new study is at once an intriguing philosophical interpretation of Kant for specialists and an extremely clear and helpful guide for students.” Karl Ameriks, University of Notre Dame

"Allen Wood's Kant is clearly written, and it is accessible to a broad audience without making any sacrifice of precision in expounding complex philosophical doctrines. It covers all aspects of Kant’s thought and relates them, as much as is possible within the constraints of a fairly short book, to contemporary issues and concerns." Béatrice Longuenesse, New York University

"Writing with both vigor and rigor, Allen Wood provides concise and insightful accounts of Kant's theory of knowledge and critique of traditional metaphysics, and of his moral and political philosophy. He also paints a distinctive picture of the historical dimension of Kant's thought: his sensitivity to the history of philosophy, but even more importantly his recognition that humankind itself has a history, and that its moral goals must be achieved through the means of history and within the limits of history." Paul Guyer, University of Pennsylvania

"Wood's Kant is an exemplary introduction to Kant's Philosophy and the issues that it raises. Undergraduate students in particular will benefit greatly from it, both as preparation for reading the primary texts and as a guide to developing a philosophical engagement with them. Teachers therefore ought not to hesitate in refering students to it and in employing Wood's stimulating interpretive and evaluative points to teaching." Tom Bailey, University of Pisa, Kantian Review

Preface.

Abbreviations.

1. Life and Works.

2. Synthetic A Priori Cognition.

3. The Principles of Possible Experience.

4. The Limits of Cognition and the Ideas of Reason.

5. The Transcendental Dialectic.

6. Philosophy of History.

7. Ethical Theory.

8. Theory of Taste.

9. Politics and Religion.

Index.