Freedom and the End of Reason : On the Moral Foundation of Kant’s Critical Philosophy.

245 Pages·2014·19.058 MB·English

by  Richard L. Velkley

Freedom and the End of Reason

FREEDOM
AND THE
END OF REASON
On the Moral Foundation of Kant's
Critical Philosophy
Richard L. Velkley
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago & London
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 1989 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 1989.
Paperback edition 2014
Printed in the United States of America
23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 2 3 4 5 6
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-85260-7 (cloth)
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-15517-3 (paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-15758-0 (e-book)
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226157580.001.0001
library of congress cataloging-in-publication data
Velkley, Richard L.
Freedom and the end of reason : on the moral foundation of Kant’s critical
philosophy / Richard L. Velkley.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-226-85260-1
1. Kant, Immanuel, 1724–1804. 2. Reason—History—18th century. 3. Tele-
ology—History—18th century. 4. Ethics, Modern—18th century. 5. Liberty—
History—18th century. 6. Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 1712–1778—Influence. I.
Title.
B2798.V37 1989
193—dc19
88-8029

CIP
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992
(Permanence of Paper).
To my mother and the memory of my father

This new doctrine [of Kantian idealism]
is not an object for curiosity, nor a passing
fashion, nor is it a system in the ordinary sense,
like so many which are useless and devoid of meaning.
Rather it is the genius of "living in harmony with
virtue," subordinated to a rule of
the greatest certainty and rigor, embracing and
organizing the totality of human intellectual
and moral faculties.
FRIEDRICH SCHLEGEL
The philosopher is not a misologist, but
rather a lawgiver of human reason, and
the preeminent laws are those limiting
the pretensions of reason for the
sake of humanity's end.
IMMANUEL KANT

Contents
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xv
Abbreviations xvii
INTRODUCTION 1
The Problem of the End of Reason
in Kant's Philosophy 1
The Primacy of the Practical
End of Reason 4
Rousseau's Insight 6
The Highest Good and the End of Reason 8
A Prospectus of the Argument 11
1. THE REVOLUTION IN THE END OF REASON:
SOME PRINCIPAL THEMES 17
The Revision of Modern Foundations 17
The Critique of Instrumental Reason 22
The Crisis in the Relation of Metaphysics
to Common Reason 27
Rousseau's Protest against
Modern Enlightenment 32
Kantian Philosophy as
Transcendental Practice 39
2. THE TELEOLOGICAL PROBLEM IN
MODERN INDIVIDUALISM 44
Individualism and Moral Sense 44
Rousseau's Challenge to Moral Sense 49
The Teleological Problem in Rousseau 52
ix