EBOOK Kant's Theory of Action

The theory of action underlying Immanuel Kant's ethical theory is the subject of        this book. What 'maxims' are, and how we act on maxims, are explained here in light        of both the historical context of Kant's thought, and his classroom lectures on        psychology and ethics. Arguing against the current of much recent scholarship,        Richard McCarty makes a strong case for interpreting Kant as having embraced        psychological determinism, a version of the 'belief-desire model' of human        motivation,and a literal, 'two-worlds' metaphysics. On this interpretation, actions        in the sensible world are always effects of prior psychological causes. Their        explaining causal laws are the maxims of agents' characters. And agents act freely        if, acting also in an intelligible world, what they do thereresults in their having        the characters they have here, in the sensible world. McCarty additionally shows how        this interpretation is fruitful for solving familiar problems perennially plaguing        Kant's moral psychology.