Book contents
- Kant’s Early Critics on Freedom of the Will
- Kant’s Early Critics on Freedom of the Will
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Note on the Edition and Translation
- Chronology of the Translated Texts and Kant’s Major Works
- Abbreviations
- Historical and Systematic Introduction
- I Freedom and Determinism
- II Freedom and Imputability
- III Freedom and Consciousness
- IV Freedom and Skepticism
- Leonhard Creuzer, Skeptical Reflections on Freedom of the Will with Respect to the Most Recent Theories on the Same, Giessen, 1793
- Friedrich Carl Forberg, On the Grounds and Laws of Free Actions, Jena and Leipzig, 1795
- Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Review of “Skeptical Reflections on Freedom of the Will with Respect to the Most Recent Theories on the Same by Leonhard Creuzer, 1793,” Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung 303 (1793), Cols. 201–205
- Salomon Maimon, “The Moral Skeptic,” Berlinisches Archiv der Zeit und ihres Geschmacks 2 (1800), 271–292
- V Freedom and Choice
- Appendix: Biographical Sketches
- Glossary
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index of Persons
- Index of Subjects
Salomon Maimon, “The Moral Skeptic,” Berlinisches Archiv der Zeit und ihres Geschmacks 2 (1800), 271–292
from IV - Freedom and Skepticism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 March 2022
- Kant’s Early Critics on Freedom of the Will
- Kant’s Early Critics on Freedom of the Will
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Note on the Edition and Translation
- Chronology of the Translated Texts and Kant’s Major Works
- Abbreviations
- Historical and Systematic Introduction
- I Freedom and Determinism
- II Freedom and Imputability
- III Freedom and Consciousness
- IV Freedom and Skepticism
- Leonhard Creuzer, Skeptical Reflections on Freedom of the Will with Respect to the Most Recent Theories on the Same, Giessen, 1793
- Friedrich Carl Forberg, On the Grounds and Laws of Free Actions, Jena and Leipzig, 1795
- Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Review of “Skeptical Reflections on Freedom of the Will with Respect to the Most Recent Theories on the Same by Leonhard Creuzer, 1793,” Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung 303 (1793), Cols. 201–205
- Salomon Maimon, “The Moral Skeptic,” Berlinisches Archiv der Zeit und ihres Geschmacks 2 (1800), 271–292
- V Freedom and Choice
- Appendix: Biographical Sketches
- Glossary
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index of Persons
- Index of Subjects
Summary
Salomon Maimon argues in “The Moral Skeptic” (1800) that Kant’s conception of freedom as the capacity of the power of choice to be determined by reason independently of sensible determinations is an empty concept, or, as Maimon puts it, a “term without a concept.” He holds that a determinate capacity is inconceivable without laws through which its efficacy is invariably determined. Although we might conceive of laws of nature as the determining ground of immoral action and the moral law as the determining ground of moral action, there is no law to determine which of these two opposed grounds is to become the determining ground of action in a given case. Thus, the actual determination of the power of choice would be left to chance, which is absurd since chance indicates the lack of a determining ground. Maimon’s critique is embedded in a broader treatment of the difference between the moral skeptic and the moral dogmatist in view of the Critical philosophy.
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- Kant's Early Critics on Freedom of the Will , pp. 213 - 226Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022