Constructions of Reason: Explorations of Kant's Practical Philosophy

Constructions of Reason: Explorations of Kant's Practical Philosophy by O'Neill, Onora. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780521388160.

Two centuries after they were published, Kants ethical writings are as much admired and imitated as they have ever been, yet serious and long-standing accusations of internal incoherence remain unresolved. Onora ONeill traces the alleged incoherences to attempts to assimilate Kants ethical writings to modern conceptions of rationality, action and rights. When the temptation to assimilate is resisted, a strikingly different and more cohesive account of reason and morality emerges. Kant offers a "constructivist" vindication of reason and a moral vision in which obligations are prior to rights and in which justice and virtue are linked. ONeill begins by reconsidering Kants conceptions of philosophical method, reason, freedom, autonomy and action. She then moves on to the more familiar terrain of interpretation of the Categorical Imperative, while in the last section she emphasizes differences between Kants ethics and recent "Kantian" ethics, including the work of John Rawls and other contemporary liberal political philosophers.