Abstract

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides an exposition of the relation between Immanuel Kant's ethical and metaphysical views, with special reference to works other than the first two Critiques and the Groundwork. It shows that the categorical nature of moral obligation, yet Kantian ethics is, in a fundamental sense, a teleological ethic, concerned above all with ends of action, human fulfilment and happiness. The book outlines the development of Kant's metaphysical and ethical views in a way which may illuminate some of his betterknown doctrines by tracing their origin and setting them in the wider context of his thought. It also expresses that Kant was driven both by a desire to believe in his spiritual vision and by the equally strong awareness that he could not justify it.