THE EDITION

The two parts of The Metaphysics of Morals were first published separately, the Doctrine of Right probably in January 1797 and the Doctrine of Virtue in August of that year. In the edition of 1798, Kant's revisions to the text were apparently limited to adding a parenthetical explanation of his term Läsion (Ak. 6:249) and an appendix in reply to Bouterwek's review of the Doctrine of Right published on February 18, 1797. A more extensively revised edition was published in 1803, during Kant's lifetime but without his cooperation.

With two exceptions to be noted later, the present translation is based on the text of The Metaphysics of Morals edited by Paul Natorp in Volume 6 (1907) of the Prussian Academy of the Sciences edition of Kant's works. Natorp's decision not to use the “improved” edition of 1803 is based on his conviction that such alterations in the Doctrine of Virtue as are improvements do not justify the use of a text in the production of which Kant was not involved. I have followed Natorp in relegating to notes any substantive emendations that clarify the text. I have also made use of his notes in identifying authors whose works Kant cites. Bouterwek's review is included in Volume 20 of the Academy edition.

It has long been recognized that the text of The Doctrine of Right is corrupt to the extent that paragraphs 4–8 in §6 do not belong there. On the history of this discovery, see Thomas Mautner, “Kant's Metaphysics of Morals: A Note on the Text,” Kant-Studien 72 (1981): 356–9.