Abstract

Even before Kant's proclamation of the primacy of practical reason, Anselm of Canterbury's discovery of the epistemic priority of moral value opened the door to philosophical avenues of exploration that are rarely followed consistently. This consistency manifests itself in the resolve to perceive man's moral self-understanding as an epistemic opportunity rather than as a problem that stands in the way of scientistic explanations of the world. In these essays, Recktenwald shows, in constructive dialogue with contemporary philosophies, that this opportunity is not a delusion, but only waiting to be seized in favor of a humane image of man.