The Social Authority of Reason: Kant's Critique, Radical Evil, and the Destiny of Humankind
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Description
In The Social Authority of Reason, Philip J. Rossi, SJ argues that the current cultural milieu of globalization is strikingly reflective of the human condition appraised by Kant, in which mutual social interaction for human good is hamstrung by our contentious "unsociable sociability." He situates the paradoxical nature of contemporary society—its opportunities for deepening the bonds of our common human mutuality along with its potential for enlarging the fissures that arise from our human differences—in the context of Kant's notion of radical evil. As a corrective, Rossi proposes that we draw upon the social character of Kant's critique of reason, which offers a communal trajectory for human moral effort and action. This trajectory still has power to open the path to what Kant called "the highest political good"—lasting peace among nations.
ISBN
978-0-7914-6429-8
Publication Date
2005
Publisher
SUNY Press
City
Albany, NY
Keywords
Ethics, Social Morality
Comments
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations and English Translations
1. The Moral and Social Trajectories of Kant's Critical Project
2 The Human Place in the Cosmos I: Critique at the Juncture of Nature and Freedom
3. The Human Place in the Cosmos II: Critique as the Social Self-Governance of Reason
4. The Social Consequences of "Radical Evil"
5. The Social Authority of Reason: The Ethical Commonwealth and the Project of Perpetual Peace
6. The Social Authority of Reason and the Culture(s) of Post-modernity
7. The Unfinished Task of Critique: Social Respect and the Shaping of a Common World
Notes
Index