Kant's Struggle for Autonomy: On the Structure of Practical Reason

Raef Zreik presents an original synoptic view of Kants practical philosophy, uncovering the architectonics of his system and critically engaging with its broad implications. He questions self-sufficiency and argues that autonomy is a matter of ongoing struggle between the forces of separation and unification.

Format: Hardback
Length: 336 pages
Publication date: 15 February 2023
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Kants Struggle for Autonomy: On the Structure of Practical Reason by Raef Zreik offers a unique synoptic perspective on Kants practical philosophy, revealing the underlying architectonics of his system and critically engaging with its broad implications. Zreik begins by examining the implicit strategy that guides Kant in making the distinctions that establish the autonomous spheres of happiness, morality, justice, and public order-legitimacy. The organizing principle of autonomy assumes self-sufficiency for each sphere, but Zreik develops a critique of this strategy, highlighting its limitations, costs, and inherent instability. He questions the notion of self-sufficiency and argues that autonomy is a continuous struggle between the forces of separation and unification. Zreik further suggests that we "read Kant backward," reading early Kant in light of late Kant. This reading reveals Kant's strategy of both taking things apart and putting them together, focusing on the joints, transitions, and metastructures of the system. The resulting image is of an intimate yet tragic conflict within Kants thought, leaving us to our own judgment as to where to draw the boundaries between spheres, opening the door for politicizing Kants practical philosophy.

Weight: 652g
Dimension: 159 x 236 x 30 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781793638830