
Contents
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1. Practical Reasoning and the Agent Perspective 1. Practical Reasoning and the Agent Perspective
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2. Hypothetical Imperatives 2. Hypothetical Imperatives
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3. Categorical Imperatives: Universal Law 3. Categorical Imperatives: Universal Law
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4. Universal Law as a Principle of Practical Reason 4. Universal Law as a Principle of Practical Reason
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5. Universal Law and Moral Duties 5. Universal Law and Moral Duties
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6. Universal Principles and Judging Cases 6. Universal Principles and Judging Cases
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7. Universal Laws and Ends in Themselves 7. Universal Laws and Ends in Themselves
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8. Universal Laws and Autonomy 8. Universal Laws and Autonomy
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6 Kant: Rationality as Practical Reason
Get accessOnora O’Neill is an Emeritus Honorary Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge, and has been a crossbench member of the House of Lords since 2000.
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Published:02 September 2009
Cite
Abstract
Kant is famous for undertaking a critique of reason and for calling two of his most significant works critiques of reason. These titles raise suspicions. Kant's attempt to give an account of practical reason that offers unconditional reasons for action and provides the basis for a reasoned account of human duties is spectacularly ambitious; even if it fails in some ways it is worth the closest attention. The central concern of this article is to explicate Kant's account of how one could have unconditional practical reasons to do as morality requires. Unconditional practical reasons are those not based upon arbitrarily chosen ends. This article argues that Kant's proposal is that what makes a practical reason unconditional is its universal recognizability. An unconditional practical reason is one that can be seen to be a reason for action by any rational audience—its appeal relies on no parochial concerns.
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