Autonomy and Community

Shows how Kant's basic position applies to and clarifies present-day problems of war, race, abortion, capital punishment, labor relations, the environment, and marriage.

In Autonomy and Community, contemporary Kant scholars apply Kant's moral and political views to current social issues, examining contemporary topics through the lenses of various recent Kantian approaches to issues in ethical, political, and social philosophy. The articles, written with a minimum of technical language, engage current social problems directly, demonstrating the possibility of diverse applications of Kant's views.

The authors, reaching well beyond the realm of academic philosophy, apply Kant's moral and political views to contemporary social concerns both general and specific. Under the first heading are chapters presenting readings of Kant's social theory and theory of human history, the relationship of moral practice to the social contract, Kant's theory of civic duty, and the relevance of Kantian philosophy to contemporary feminist theory. In Part II, more specific issues of contemporary interest are explored: war, international relations, race and ethnicity questions, abortion, capital punishment, environmental ethics, labor relations, and the nature of the institution of marriage. Taken as a whole, Autonomy and Community shows that Kantianism offers a social vision that goes far beyond Kant's well-known abstract theory.

[Contributors to the book include Sharon Anderson-Gold, Thomas Auxter, Susan Feldman, Gerald F. Gaus, Charles W. Mills, Nelson Potter, Philip Rossi, Robin May Schott, Harry van der Linden, Hollyn L. Wilson, Robert Paul Wolff, and Allen W. Wood.]