Abstract

Kant's pre-critical period is commonly considered to run from 1747 when he published On the True Estimate of Living Forces to the appearance in 1770 of his inaugural dissertation, On the Form & Principles of the Sensible & the Intellectual Worlds. It is in this period that the origins of his later system of ethical thought can be found. Yet there is very little literature in English dealing with this early period & many secondary sources deal only with his later major ethical works the Critique of Practical Reason & Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals. Schilpp's book aims, in presenting the pre-critical writings, to show that ethics was a central preoccupation for Kant long before the second Critique. His evidence draws together materials not only from Kant's early published writings but also from unfinished fragments, lecture notes & correspondence. The result is a thorough investigation of the development of Kant's moral philosophy prior to the publication of the first Critique. It will make the reader reexamine Kant's ethical thought as a whole &, in doing so, find a stronger & more rational interpretation.