Imagination in Kant's Critique of Practical Reason

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments Philosophy has the delightfully paradoxical quality that while the writing is done in solitude, every philosophical work is dialogical in many ways. This book, of course, is no exception. Imagination in Kant’s Critique of Practical Reason owes its initial impetus to my two great Kant teachers, John Sallis and the late Lewis White Beck. The former planted seeds that continue to grow and showed me avenues of thought that I continue to follow out. The latter exposed me to both the power of Kantian thought and to thoroughgoing scholarly rigor. My colleague and friend Richard Findler at Slippery Rock University read this entire text and offered his characteristically insightful criticisms, making this a better book. I also have the great good fortune of membership in a philosophy department that combines vigorous exchange of ideas with deep friendship. In addition to Richard Findler, ongoing conversations with William Oman and Bradley Wilson and emeritus professors Allan Larsen and Theodore Kneupper have been important in very many ways. Three library staff members, Kathleen Manning, Kevin McLatchy, and Rita McClelland, provided help far beyond the call of duty. I gladly acknowledge the contribution of the many ¤ne students, past and present, whom I have been privileged to teach. Special mention goes to Michael Rudar, now a graduate student with a most promising philosophical future, who read the copy of the ¤nal manuscript . I am also grateful for the support of the entire Slippery Rock University administration. The Indiana University Press editorial staff has provided invaluable aid of its own. With a blend of insight and directness that somehow makes it a pleasure to accept criticism, Dee Mortensen, sponsoring editor of Indiana University Press, has substantially improved this book’s ¤nal form. Her two readers, whose names I do not know, offered both encouraging praise and helpful, often incisive remarks that enabled me to make changes for the better. Elisabeth M. Marsh, assistant sponsoring editor, provided generous and expert help in the preparation of the ¤nal manuscript. Finally, I acknowledge my two greatest gifts of good fortune. I thank my daughter, Malika Hadley Freydberg, for her courage and her openness. For her insights on imagination and for the daily inspiration I receive from her presence in my life, I thank my wife, Akiko Kotani. xii Acknowledgments ...