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  1. Home
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  3. Acting on Principle
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
June 2014
Print publication year:
2013
Online ISBN:
9781139565097
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139565097
Subjects:
Ethics, Philosophy
Information

Book description

'Two things', wrote Kant, 'fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe: the starry heavens above and the moral law within'. Many would argue that since Kant's day, the study of the starry heavens has advanced while ethics has stagnated, and in particular that Kant's ethics offers an empty formalism that tells us nothing about how we should live. In Acting on Principle Onora O'Neill shows that Kantian ethics has practical as well as philosophical importance. First published in 1975, the book is regarded as a classic account and defence of the Kantian ethical position. It addresses Kant's account of reasoning about action, in particular his controversial claim that the Categorical Imperative guides action and is basic to ethics and justice. This second edition offers a substantial new introduction and updated bibliography, and will be valuable for a wide readership in Kant studies and those studying ethics.

Reviews

'The most incisive and thoughtful defence of Kant along these lines that we have … [O'Neill] writes with a kind of brisk lucidity that is entirely admirable.'

Source: The Times Literary Supplement

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Contents

Contents
References
Bibliographies
Other works
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Austin, J. L.Philosophical Papers, ed. Urmson, J. O. and Warnock, G. J.. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961.
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Baier, K.The Moral Point of View: A Rational Basis of Ethics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1958.
Beck, L. W. ‘Apodictic Imperatives’, Kant-Studien, 49 (1957), 7–23.
Beck, L. W.A Commentary on Kant’s Critique of Practical Reason. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960.
Beck, L. W. ‘Kant and the Right of Revolution’, Journal of the History of Ideas, 32 (1971), 411–22.
Broad, C. D.Five Types of Ethical Theory. Totowa, NJ: Littlefield Adams, 1965 (reprinted).
Chisholm, R. ‘Supererogation and Offence’, Ratio, 5 (1963), 1–14.
D’Arcy, E.Human Acts: An Essay in Their Moral Evaluation. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963.
Dietrichson, P. ‘When Is a Maxim Fully Universalizable?’, Kant-Studien, 55 (1964), 143–70.
Duncan, A. R. C.Practical Reason and Morality. Edinburgh: Nelson, 1967.
Ebbinghaus, J. ‘Interpretation and Misinterpretation of the Categorical Imperative’, trans. Paton, H. J., Philosophical Quarterly, 4 (1954), 97–108.
Eisenberg, P. ‘Basic Ethical Categories of Kant’s Tugendlehre’, American Philosophical Quarterly, 3 (1966), 255–69.
Ewing, A. C. ‘The Paradoxes of Kant’s Ethics’, Philosophy, 13 (1938), 40–56.
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Grice, G. R.The Grounds of Moral Judgement. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967.
Haezrahi, P. ‘The Concept of Man as End-in-Himself’, reprinted in Kant: A Collection of Critical Essays, ed. Wolff, R. P.. London: Macmillan, 1968.
Hare, R. M.Freedom and Reason. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963.
Hill, T. E. ‘Kant on Imperfect Duty and Supererogation’, Kant-Studien, 62 (1971), 55–76.
Kemp, J. ‘Kant’s Examples of the Categorical Imperative’, Philosophical Quarterly, 8 (1958), 63–71.
Körner, S.Kant. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1955.
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Lyons, D.Forms and Limits of Utilitarianism. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965.
Melden, A. I., ed., Essays in Moral Philosophy. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1958.
Mill, J. S. ‘Utilitarianism’ in Utilitarianism, Liberty and Representative Government. London: Everyman’s Library, J. M. Dent, 1968 (reprinted).
Moritz, M.Kant’s Einteilung der Imperative. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1960.
Paton, H. J.The Moral Law. Rev. edn. London: Hutchinson, 1953.
Paton, H. J. ‘An Alleged Right to Lie: A Problem in Kantian Ethics’, Kant-Studien, 45 (1953–54), 190–203.
Paton, H. J.The Categorical Imperative. London: Hutchinson, 1958.
Prichard, H. A.Moral Obligation. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1949.
Ross, W. D.The Right and the Good. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1930.
Ross, W. D.Kant’s Ethical Theory. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1954.
Simon, M.Models of Man. New York: Wiley & Sons, 1957.
Singer, M. G.Generalization in Ethics: An Essay in the Logic of Ethics with the Rudiments of a System of Moral Philosophy. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1961.
Urmson, J. O. ‘Saints and Heroes’, in Essays in Moral Philosophy, ed. Melden, A. I.. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1958.
Williams, T. C.The Concept of the Categorical Imperative: A Study of the Place of the Categorical Imperative in Kant’s Ethical Theory. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968.
Wolff, R. P.The Autonomy of Reason: A Commentary on Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals. New York: Harper & Row, 1973.
Selected additional bibliography of work on the themes of Acting on Principle
Allison, Henry E. Kant’s Theory of Freedom. Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Ameriks, Karl. Kant and the Fate of Autonomy. Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Baron, Marcia W.Kantian Ethics almost without Apology. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1995.
Beck, Lewis White. A Commentary on Kant’s Critique of Practical Reason. University of Chicago Press, 1960.
Bittner, Rüdiger. ‘Maximen’, in Akten des 4. Internationalen Kant-Kongresses, ed. Funke, G.. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1974, pp. 485–9.
Byrd, Sharon and Hruschka, J.. Kant’s Doctrine of Right: A Commentary. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Christman, John, ed. The Inner Citadel: Essays on Individual Autonomy. Oxford University Press, 1989.
Dworkin, Gerald. The Theory and Practice of Autonomy. Cambridge University Press, 1988.
Dworkin, Gerald. ‘The Concept of Autonomy’, in The Inner Citadel: Essays on Individual Autonomy, ed. John, Christman. Oxford University Press, 1989, pp. 54–76.
Dworkin, Ronald. Life’s Dominion. London: HarperCollins, 1983.
Förster, Eckhart, ed. Kant’s Transcendental Deductions: The Three Critiques and the Opus Postumum. Stanford University Press, 1989.
Gewirth, Alan. ‘Ethical Universalism and Particularism’, Journal of Philosophy, 85 (1988), 283–302.
Guyer, Paul. Kant on Freedom, Law and Happiness. Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Henrich, Dieter. ‘Kant’s Notion of a Deduction and the Methodological Background of the First Critique’, in Kant’s Transcendental Deductions: The Three Critiques and the Opus Postumum, ed. Förster, Eckhart. Stanford University Press, 1989, pp. 29–46.
Herman, Barbara. The Practice of Moral Judgment. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993.
Hill, Thomas E. ‘Servility and Self-respect’, Monist, 57 (1973), 87–104 and in his Autonomy and Self-Respect. Cambridge University Press, 1991, pp. 4–18.
Hill, Thomas E. ‘The Kantian Conception of Autonomy’ in his Dignity and Practical Reason in Kant’s Moral Theory. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1992, pp. 76–96.
Höffe, Otfried, ed. Immanuel Kant, Kritik der praktischen Vernunft. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2004.
Höffe, Otfried. ‘Kants kategorischer Imperativ als Kriterium des Sittlichen’, Zeitschrift für philosophische Forschung, 31 (1977), 354–84.
Kant, Immanuel, 1781. Critique of Pure Reason, trans. Guyer, Paul and Wood, Allen. Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Kant, Immanuel, 1784. What Is Enlightenment?, trans. Gregor, Mary J., in Kant, Immanuel, Practical Philosophy. Cambridge University Press, 1996, 8:35–42.
Kant, Immanuel, 1785. Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, trans. Gregor, Mary J., in Kant, Immanuel, Practical Philosophy. Cambridge University Press, 1996, 4:387–463.
Kant, Immanuel, 1786. What Does It Mean to Orient Oneself in Thinking?, trans. Wood, Allen W. and Giovanni, George di, in Kant, Immanuel, Religion and Rational Theology. Cambridge University Press, 1996, 8:133–46.
Kant, Immanuel, 1788. Critique of Practical Reason, trans. Gregor, Mary J., in Kant, Immanuel, Practical Philosophy. Cambridge University Press, 1996, 5:19–163.
Kant, Immanuel, 1798. The Conflict of the Faculties, trans. Wood, Allen W. and Giovanni, George di, in Kant, Immanuel, Religion and Rational Theology. Cambridge University Press, 1996, 8:233–328.
Kerstein, Samuel J.Kant’s Search for the Supreme Principle of Morality. Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Kerstein, Samuel J.How to Treat Persons. Oxford University Press, 2013.
Korsgaard, Chrstine. Creating the Kingdom of Ends. Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Lara, Denis, ed., Kant’s Metaphysics of Morals. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Larmore, Charles, ‘Moral Judgment’, Review of Metaphysics, 35 (1981), 275–96.
Levine, Andrew, The Politics of Autonomy: A Kantian Reading of Rousseau’s ‘Social Contract’. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1976.
Lindley, Richard. Autonomy. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1986.
Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1971.
Rawls, John. ‘The Basic Structure as Subject’, American Philosophical Quarterly, 14 (1977), 159–65.
Rawls, John. ‘Kantian Constructivism in Moral Theory’, Journal of Philosophy, 77 (1980), 515–72.
Rawls, John. ‘Justice as Fairness, Political not Metaphysical’, Philosophy and Public Affairs, 14 (1985), 223–51.
Rawls, John. Political Liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.
Rawls, John. The Law of Peoples, in Rawls, John, Collected Papers. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999, pp. 529–64.
Reath, Andrews. Agency and Autonomy in Kant’s Moral Theory. Oxford University Press, 2006.
Reath, Andrews and Jens, Timmermann. Kant’s Critique of Practical Reason: A Critical Guide. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Ripstein, Arthur. Force and Freedom: Kant’s Legal and Political Philosophy. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2009.
Schneewind, J. B. ‘The Misfortunes of Virtue’, Ethics, 101 (1990), 42–63.
Schneewind, J. B.The Invention of Autonomy: A History of Modern Moral Philosophy. Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Sen, Amartya. ‘Rational Fools: A Critique of the Behavioural Foundations of Economic Theory’, Philosophy and Public Affairs, 6 1977, 317–44.
Sensen, Oliver, ed. Kant on Moral Autonomy. Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Timmermann, Jens. ‘Kant’s Puzzling Ethics of Maxims’, Harvard Review, 4 (2000), 38–52.
Timmermann, Jens. Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals: A Commentary. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Timmons, Mark, ed., Kant’s Metaphysics of Morals: Interpretative Essays. Oxford University Press, 2002.
Trampota, Andreas, Oliver, Sensen and Jens, Timmermann, eds., Kant’s Tugendlehre: A Comprehensive Commentary. Berlin and New York: De Gruyter, 2012.
Velkley, Richard. Freedom and the End of Reason: On the Moral Foundation of Kant’s Critical Philosophy. University of Chicago Press, 1990.
Weil, Simone [1949]. The Need for Roots: A Prelude to a Declaration of Duties toward Mankind, trans. Wills, A. F.. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1952.
Williams, Bernard. Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy. London: Fontana, 1985.
Wolterstorff, Nicholas. Justice: Rights and Wrongs. Princeton University Press, 2008.
Wood, Allen W. Kant’s Ethical Thought. Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Bibliography of later work on Kant and Kantian Themes by Onora O’Neill
Books
Constructions of Reason: Explorations of Kant’s Practical Philosophy. Cambridge University Press, 1989 (articles marked * are included in this volume).
Towards Justice and Virtue: A Constructive Account of Practical Reasoning. Cambridge University Press, 1996; German edition, Tugend und Gerechtigkeit: Eine konstruktive Darstellung des praktischen Denkens, Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1996.
Bounds of Justice. Cambridge University Press, 2000 (articles marked ** are included).
Autonomy and Trust in Bioethics. Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Articles in approximate chronological order:
‘Space and Objects’, Journal of Philosophy, 63 (1976), 29–45.
‘Transcendental Synthesis and Developmental Psychology’, Kant-Studien, 75 (1984), 149–67.
*‘Kant after Virtue’, Inquiry, 26 (1984), 387–405.
*‘Between Consenting Adults’, Philosophy and Public Affairs, 14 (1985), 252–77.
*‘Consistency in Action’, in Universality and Morality: Essays on Ethical Universalisability, ed. Potter, N. and Timmons, M., Miami, Fl.: Riedel, 1985, pp. 159–86.
*‘The Public Use of Reason’, Political Theory, 14 (1986), 523–51.
*‘The Power of Example’, Philosophy, 61 (1986), 5–29.
*‘Reason and Autonomy in Grundlegung III’, in Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten: Ein kooperativer Kommentar, ed. Höffe, Otfried. Frankfurt-a-M: Klostermann, 1989, pp. 282–98.
*‘The Great Maxims of Justice and Charity’, in Enlightenment, Rights and Revolution, ed. McCormick, Neil and Bankowski, Zenon. University of Aberdeen Press, 1989, pp. 297–308.
*‘Universal Laws and Ends-in-Themselves’, The Monist (1989), 341–61.
‘Agency and Anthropology in Kant’s Groundwork’, in Kant’s Practical Philosophy Reconsidered, ed. Yovel, Y.. New York: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1989, pp. 63–82.
*‘Constructivisms in Ethics’, Presidential Address, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 89 (1988–89), 1–17.
‘Enlightenment as Autonomy: Kant’s Vindication of Reason’, in The Enlightenment and its Shadows, ed. Hulme, P. and Jordanova, L.. London: Routledge, 1990, pp. 184–99.
‘Kantian Ethics’, in A Companion to Ethics, ed. Singer, P.. Oxford: Blackwell, 1991, pp. 175–85.
‘Children’s Rights and Children’s Lives’, in Children’s Rights and the Law, ed. Alson, P., Parker, S. and Seymour, J.. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992.
‘Vindicating Reason’, in The Cambridge Companion to Kant, ed. Guyer, P.. Cambridge University Press, 1992, pp. 280–308.
‘Innerhalb der Grenzen der Bloßen Vernunft’, in Kant über Religion, ed. Ricken, Friedo and Marty, François. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1992.
‘Reason and the Resolution of Disputes’, Notre Dame Law Review, 67 (1992), 1365–84.
**‘Vier Modelle praktischer Vernunft’, in Vernunftbegriffe in der Moderne, ed. Fulda, Hans Fredrich and Horstmann, Rolf-Peter. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1994, 586–606; in English, Four Models of Practical Reasoning, in Bounds of Justice, 11–28.
‘Kommunikative Rationalität und praktische Vernunft’, Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie, 41 (1993), 329–32.
‘Practical Reason and Possible Community: A Reply to Jean-Marc Ferry’, Ratio Juris, 7 (1994), 308–13.
‘Kant’s Virtues’, in How Should One Live? Essays on the Virtues, ed. Crisp, Roger. Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 77–97.
‘Principles, Judgment and Institutions’, in Law, Values and Social Practices: The William Galbraith Miller Centenary Lectures in Jurisprudence, ed. Tasioulas, John, Dartmouth: Ashgate, 1997, pp. 59–73. See also revised version with title ‘Principles, Practical Judgment and Institutions’, in Bounds of Justice.
‘Within the Limits of Reason’, in Reclaiming the History of Ethics: Essays for John Rawls, ed. Korsgaard, Chris, Reath, Andrews and Herman, Barbara. Cambridge University Press, 1997, 170–86.
Kant on Reason and Religion: Reasoned Hope, The Tanner Lectures on Human Values 18, ed. Peterson, Grethe B.. University of Utah Press, 1997, pp. 267–90. Text available at .
‘Kant on Reason and Religion: Reason and Interpretation’, The Tanner Lectures on Human Values 18, ed. Peterson, Grethe B.. University of Utah Press, 1997, pp. 290–308. Text available at .
‘Kantian Constructivisms’ in Rationalität, Realismus, Revision, in Proceedings of the 3rd International Congress of the Society of Analytical Philosophy, ed. Nida-Rümelin, Julian. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1999, pp. 3–16.
‘Instituting Principles: Between Duty and Action’, Southern Journal of Philosophy, 36, suppl. vol. (1997) (Spindel Conference Proceedings, Kant’s Metaphysics of Morals, ed. Nelson Potter and Mark Timmons), 79–96; revised version in Kant’s Metaphysics of Morals: Interpretative Essays, ed. Timmons, Mark. Oxford University Press, 2002, pp. 331–47.
‘Necessary Anthropocentrism and Contingent Speciesism’, Symposium with Allen Wood on ‘Kant on Duties Regarding Non-Rational Nature’, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, suppl. vol. (1998), 211–28.
‘Political Liberalism and Public Reason: A Critical Notice of John Rawls, Political Liberalism’, Philosophical Review, 106 (1998), 411–28.
**‘Women’s Rights: Whose obligations?’, in Women’s Voices, Women’s Rights, ed. Jeffries, Alison, Oxford Amnesty Lectures. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1999.
‘Kant and the Social Contract Tradition’, in Kant actuel: hommage à Pierre Laberge, ed. Duchesneau, François, Lafrance, Guy and Piché, Claude, Montreal: Bellarmin, 2000, pp. 185–200; slightly revised version in Kant’s Political Theory: Interpretations and Applications, ed. Elisabeth Ellis. Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012.
‘Agents of Justice’, Metaphilosophy, 32 (2001), 180–95 and in Global Justice, ed. Pogge, Thomas W.. Oxford: Blackwell, 2001, pp. 188–203.
‘Practical Principles and Practical Judgement’, Hastings Center Report, 31 (2001), 15–23.
‘Sidgwick on Practical Reason’, Proceedings of the British Academy, 109 (2001), 83–9.
‘Kant’s Conception of Public Reason’, in Kant und die Berliner Aufklärung, ed. Gerhardt, Volker, Horstmann, Rolf-Peter and Schumacher, Ralph (Akten des ix. Internationalen Kant-Kongresses), vol. i. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2001, pp. 35–47.
‘Autonomy and the Fact of Reason in the Kritik der praktischen Vernunft, 30–41’, in Immanuel Kant, Kritik der praktischen Vernunft, ed. Höffe, Otfried (Klassiker Auslegen Bd. 26). Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2002, pp. 81–97.
‘Constructivism in Rawls and Kant’, in A Cambridge Companion to John Rawls, ed. Freeman, Samuel. Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp. 347–67.
‘Autonomy: The Emperor’s New Clothes’, The Inaugural Address, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Suppl. vol. 77 (2003), 1–21.
‘Constructivism vs. Contractualism’, Ratio, 16, no. 4 (December 2003), 319–31 and in On What We Owe Each Other, ed. Stratton-Lake, Philip. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004, pp. 17–31.
‘Kant: Rationality as Practical Reason’, in The Oxford Handbook of Rationality, ed. Mele, Alfred J. and Rawling, Piers. Oxford University Press, 2004, pp. 93–109; trans. as ‘Kant: Racjonalność jako rozum praktyczny’, Prezgląd Filozoficzny, 13, no. 4 (2004), 125–45.
‘Consequences for Non-consequentialists’, Utilitas, 16 (2004), 1–11.
‘Autonomy, Plurality and Public Reason’, in New Essays on the History of Autonomy, ed. Brender, Natalie and Krasnoff, Larry. Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 181–94.
‘Modern Moral Philosophy and the Problem of Relevant Descriptions’, in Modern Moral Philosophy, ed. O’Hear, A., Royal Institute of Philosophy, suppl. vol. 54. Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 301–16.
‘Self-Legislation, Autonomy and the Form of Law’, in Recht, Geschichte, Religion: Die Bedeutung Kants für die Gegenwart, ed. Nagl-Docekal, Herta und Langthaler, Rudolf, Sonderband der Deutschen Zeitschrift für Philosophie. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2004, pp. 13–26.
**‘Kant’s Justice and Kantian Justice’, in Bounds of Justice, 65–80; trans. as ‘Kantische Gerechtigkeit und kantianische Gerechtigkeit’, in Kants Ethik, ed. Ameriks, Karl. Paderborn: Mentis Verlag, 2004, pp. 58–73.
‘The Dark Side of Human Rights’, International Affairs, 81, no. 2 (2005), 427–39.
‘Experts, Practitioners and Practical Judgement’, Journal of Moral Philosophy, 4, no. 1 (2007), 153–66.
‘Normativity and Practical Judgement’, Journal of Moral Philosophy, 4, no. 3 (2007), 393–406.
‘Historical Trends and Human Futures’, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science A, 39, no. 4 (December 2008), 529–34.
‘Applied Ethics: Naturalism, Normativity and Public Policy’, Journal of Applied Philosophy, 26 (2009), 1–12.
‘Rights, Obligations, Priorities’ (commentary on Nicholas Wolterstorff’s Justice: Rights and Wrongs)’, Studies in Christian Ethics, 23, no. 2 (May 2010), 163–71.
‘Orientation in Thinking: Geographical Problems, Political Solutions’, in Reading Kant’s Geography, ed. Elden, Stuart and Mendieta, Eduardo. New York: University of Stony Brook Press, 2011, pp. 215–32.

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