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In his 1797 essay 'On a Supposed Right to Lie from Love of Humanity', Kant argues that when only a confident lie might save a friend, one must, if asked, reply truthfully and thus betray his hiding-place to the person who wants to kill him. This is the first monograph to explore Kant's essay in detail. Jens Timmermann examines the background of the piece (Kant was provoked by Benjamin Constant and his translator, Carl Friedrich Cramer); the history of the example (which was also discussed by, amongst others, Augustine, Fichte and Johann David Michaelis); the peculiarities of Constant's version of the case; and Kant's core argument against Constant: lying, or a right to lie, would undermine contractual rights and spell disaster for all humanity. This rich, interpretative resource, which includes a facing-page translation of Kant's essay, will be of wide interest to Kant scholars and moral philosophers.
In this chapter, Jens Timmermann discusses Kant's transition from his pre-autonomy theory of obligation – as it surfaces in the 'Canon of Pure Reason' (1781) and contemporary lectures on natural theology (e.g. Pölitz) - to the autonomy view as developed in the 'Groundwork' (written in 1784). Kant assumes throughout that moral laws are unconditionally valid, i.e. universal and necessary. But the earlier view cannot sustain this assumption because the help of an external lawgiver who issues threats and promises (namely God) de facto turns moral commands into hypothetical imperatives. Locating lawgiving within the human will solves the problem. Kant argues that the will must, echoing St Paul, be a law unto itself. Internalising legislation thus marks the emergence of autonomy. The chapter also sheds light on the relation between autonomy and the notion of the kingdom of ends and the overal l strategy of Kant's foundational attempts in the ethical realm.
Is Kant’s ethical theory too demanding? Do its commands ask too much of us, either by calling for self-sacrifice on particular occasions, or by pervading our lives to the extent that there is no room for permissible action? In this article, I argue that Kant’s ethics is very demanding, but not excessively so. The notion of ‘latitude’ (the idea that wide duty admits of ‘exceptions’) does not help. But we need to bear in mind (i) that moral laws are self-imposed and cannot be externally enforced; (ii) that ‘right action’ is not a category of Kantian ethics – there is a more and a less, and lack of perfection does not entail vice; and (iii) that only practice makes perfect, i.e. how much virtue can realistically be expected can vary from agent to agent. The principle that ‘ought’ is limited by ‘can’ is firmly entrenched in Kant’s ethical thought.
With fifty-four chapters charting the development of moral philosophy in the Western world, this volume examines the key thinkers and texts and their influence on the history of moral thought from the pre-Socratics to the present day. Topics including Epicureanism, humanism, Jewish and Arabic thought, perfectionism, pragmatism, idealism and intuitionism are all explored, as are figures including Aristotle, Boethius, Spinoza, Hobbes, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Mill, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre and Rawls, as well as numerous key ideas and schools of thought. Chapters are written by leading experts in the field, drawing on the latest research to offer rigorous analysis of the canonical figures and movements of this branch of philosophy. The volume provides a comprehensive yet philosophically advanced resource for students and teachers alike as they approach, and refine their understanding of, the central issues in moral thought.
This comprehensive summary of the state of the art in Ultra Wideband (UWB) system engineering takes you through all aspects of UWB design, from components through the propagation channel to system engineering aspects. Mathematical tools and basics are covered, allowing for a complete characterisation and description of the UWB scenario, in both the time and the frequency domains. UWB MMICs, antennas, antenna arrays, and filters are described, as well as quality measurement parameters and design methods for specific applications. The UWB propagation channel is discussed, including a complete mathematical description together with modeling tools. A system analysis is offered, addressing both radio and radar systems, and techniques for optimization and calibration. Finally, an overview of future applications of UWB technology is presented. Ideal for scientists as well as RF system and component engineers working in short range wireless technologies.