ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents Kantian morality against an interrelated set of criticisms that constitute the most influential contemporary critique of Kantian morality and even of modern ethical theory in general. It deals with an examination of Bernard Williams's critique of Kantian morality because his critique defines the themes of the contemporary attack and inspires the views of other critics, especially Susan Wolf, Michael Stocker, Lynne McFall, and Lawrence Blum. The book deals with the various criticisms of impartiality and an examination and explication of duties to oneself as characterized in Immanuel Kant's Doctrine of Virtue and Lectures on Ethics. It considers one last criticism that Kantian morality is self-defeating before providing a defense that Kantian duties to oneself guard against destruction of the self.