Freedom and Anthropology in Kant's Moral Philosophy

Abstract

This book offers a comprehensive account of Kant's theory of freedom and his moral anthropology. The point of departure is the apparent conflict between three claims to which Kant is committed: that human beings are transcendentally free, that moral anthropology studies the empirical influences on human beings, and that more anthropology is morally relevant. Frierson shows why this conflict is only apparent. He draws on Kant's transcendental idealism and his theory of the will and describes how empirical influences can affect the empirical expression of one's will in a way that is morally significant but still consistent with Kant's concept of freedom. As a work which integrates Kant's anthropology with his philosophy as a whole, this book will be an unusually important source of study for all Kant scholars and advanced students of Kant.

Kant's Critique of Instrumental Reason

“…Frierson, , p. 51, also accepts that the ‘psychological,’ compatibilist concept of free will suffices for prudential agency. I construct a detailed argument for why agency under objective norms of morality does, whereas agency under subjective desire‐based norms does not, presuppose transcendental freedom of will (and hence the falsity of universal determinism) in Kohl, .…”

The Origins and Principles of Kant's Pragmatic Anthropology

“…Власне майбутній засновник герменевтики зафіксував певну дилему у ставленні Канта до людини і запропонував автору «Критики чистого розуму» узгодити між собою ці дві досить різні позиції, а саме, трансценденталізм свободи з емпіризмом людської природи. Докладний аналіз цієї рецензії здійснив сучасний дослідник П.Фрейрсон, який привертає увагу до проблеми емпіричного базису антропології Канта, а відтак залежність її тлумачення від тих емпіричних конотацій, яким ми будемо надавати особливого значення (Frierson, 2003;.…”

What Nature Makes of Her: Kant's Gendered Metaphysics

“… Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher first drew attention to the fundamental tension between the teleological and transcendental aspects of Kant's philosophy in an early review of the Anthropology ; see Frierson . …”

“…Patrick Frierson provides a helpful overview of commentators’ attempts to do so in a paper entitled “Moral Anthropology in Contemporary Neokantian Ethics,” presented at the Kantian Ethics Conference at the University of San Diego on January 16, 2003; for a video of the paper presentation, see Frierson . For other compelling accounts suggesting such a reconciliation, see Sherman ; Louden ; Frierson .…”