Abstract

Of Kant's major works, none has received less attention than The Metaphysics of Morals, particularly its first part, Metaphysische Anfangsgründe der Rechtslehre. From Schopenhauer to Hannah Arendt it has been dismissed as an inferior work, the product of his declining years. In the last decade, however, this neglect has begun to be remedied. The Rechtslehre has become a subject of intense scholarly activity in Germany, and interest in it is spreading to North America. Ludwig's remarkable edition should help to stimulate and extend that interest.