Immanuel Kant's Moral Theory (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 685 antinomies and his doctrine of the highest good. Reason seeks an absolute whole, but while this cannot be found in the natural world, it is provided by the construct of a moral world of harmonious self-legislating agents. By building on the work of Schmucker and Henrich, Velkley can show that this idea of a moral end of all reason is not a late and desperate appendage to Kant's critical philosophy, but rather precedes and governs it. Theoretical philosophy becomes a "propadeutic" for turning back the "beclouding" of the morality of "common reason" by dogmatic or skeptical speculation. Unlike other moderns, Rousseau and Kant see this project as no mere moderate reform, but as aiming at a new "grounding of" the sacred and noble" (33) through philosophy, which brings us back from "self-inflicted alienation" (145) . Unlike Rousseau, Kant believes reason can provide its own pure source of motivation for this project through a demand for independence that is found in everyone and justifies an expectation for "large-scaJe emancipation." Here Velkley introduces some of his few critical remarks, observing that Kant overlooks some of Rousseau's perceptions about the difficulty of this project (54, 69), and that in general it is not clear why Kant (and, in a worse way, later idealists) presumed reason is thoroughly systematic and "philosophy must answer [or the totality of human welfare" (168). This book is surely essential reading for students of the period, although its broad scope can disappoint those looking for analytic treatments of Kant's major works. And Velkley may go too far in making his point about the primacy of practical reason. It is no surprise that the practical should have practical primacy, but that does not mean ethics can determine logic, or the "end of reason" can legitimate the doctrine of transcendental idealism which first makes permissible Kantian freedom and morality. I would have preferred more respect for the gravity of the theoretical issue of determinism , for the objection that Kant's late reliance on a "fact of reason" is a reversion to dogmatism, and for the possibility that throughout his work Kant remains close to rationalism. Velkley holds that even the Dissertation claims no "dogmatic theoretical cognition" (131), but this seems contradicted by its account of substantial interaction grounded in God. Finally, while the insights of Strauss, Tonelli, Kuebn, Yovel, etc., are well documented in a very helpful set of notes, Velkley might have also compared his account with some of the following: Kroner, Auxter, Schneewind, O'Neill, Foucauh, Deleuze. KARL AMERIKS University of Notre Dame Roger J. Sullivan. Immanuel Kant's Moral Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. Pp. xvii + 413 . Cloth, $49.5o. Paper, $16.95. Professor Sullivan's book is both modest and ambitious. His declared objective is merely to provide a "comprehensive survey" of Kant's practical (or "moral") philosophy rather than a highly original contribution to the field of Kant scholarship. To the layman this may seem an unassuming project, demanding no more than basic exposi- 686 JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY 29:4 OCTOBER t991 tory competence. Yet as any Kant specialist will attest, and as Sullivan is fully aware, it is in fact a bold undertaking. Books on Kant's practical philosophy usually concentrate on one of its two component parts, ethics or the theory ofjustice, or on a single text, typically the Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals or the Critique of Practical Reason. Sullivan's project is larger: to give a "synoptic" account of the entirety of Kant's practical philosophy. Keeping in mind the scope, complexity, and notorious obscurity of much of Kant's thinking on moral questions, this is a daunting task. Sullivan is to be commended for having on the whole handled it quite well. Anyone who reads Sullivan's book will profit in some way. With a few exceptions I will discuss in a moment, the general reader will find it an accurate guide to the most important issues in Kant's practical philosophy. There are two admirably succinct and lucid chapters on Kant's political philosophy (Chapters 16 and 17), which manage in a brief twenty-eight pages to...