The Reality of the Ideal: A Study of Kant's Highest Good by Alexander T. Englert ISBN 9780197785997, 9780197786024, 0197785999, 0197786022 instant download

The Reality of the Ideal: A Study of Kant's Highest Good by Alexander T. Englert ISBN 9780197785997, 9780197786024, 0197785999, 0197786022 instant download

Immanuel Kant claims that whenever we act on the moral law, we engage in a collective project to bring about a world that we can only grasp in reason. The resulting image of an ideal world, Kant calls the “highest good.” This is a challenging feature of Kant’s ethics. What, after all, is its use, if (as Kant claims) the moral law is sufficient to determine how we should act? What is the highest good actually good for in everyday life? In contrast to standard readings, which see the highest good’s main importance as related to action, The Reality of the Ideal presents a fresh perspective according to which the highest good’s primary importance is for contemplation, both local and global in scope. On the one hand, it is important locally as a point of comparison that enables us to judge moral progress or degrees of morality (and its opposite) in experience. On the other hand, it becomes important globally as a point of reference in relation to which we can construct a harmonious worldview. In both instances, it ultimately serves as a perfect point of comparison for an imperfect world. These contemplative moments show how the highest good anchors a deep sense of meaning and grounds a well-ordered experience. Out of this analysis, it also becomes clear that while not existing in a standard sense, the ideal is anything but a fiction. Rather, the reality of the ideal persists as a fundamental feature of lived experience.