Kant on Culture, Happiness and Civilization

This book joins the contemporary recovery of Kant’s empirical works to highlight the relevance of his concept of culture for understanding the sources of various characteristic modern dilemmas, such as the tension between culture and happiness, the morally ambivalent nature of cultural progress, or the existing conflicts between a factual plurality of cultures and the historical forces pressing toward a universal civilization. The book will be of special interest for Kantian scholars, moral and political philosophers, as well as philosophers of culture. Acknowledgments Abbreviations Contents About the Author Chapter 1: Kantian Insights into the Autonomy of Culture References Chapter 2: Culture and Happiness in Kant 1 A Teleological Argument for Morality and Culture 1.1 Happiness Is Not the End of Man’s Nature 1.2 Culture is Nature’s End in Man 2 Nature’s Ultimate End: Culture in the Critique of Judgment 2.1 Why Happiness Cannot be Nature’s Ultimate End 2.2 Culture as Aptitude for All Sorts of Ends and Nature’s End 3 The Highest Good as Creation’s Final End 4 The Conflict between Happiness and Culture: And its Possible Resolution 4.1 The Conflict between Natural Man and Civilized Man in Providence’s Plan 4.2 Indirect Happiness References Chapter 3: Kant’s Dual Approach to Culture 1 A Genetic Approach to Culture: Culture as Nature’s Ultimate End 2 A Practical Approach to Culture: The Duty of Improving One’s Nature 2.1 The Need for Education 2.2 The Civilizing Process 2.3 Culture and Practical Reason 3 Man’s Unsociable Sociability References Chapter 4: Kant on Civilization and Cultural Pluralism 1 Civilized and Uncivilized Peoples 2 Toward a Universal Civilization? 2.1 The Ambivalent Role of Cultural Diversity 2.2 The Provisional Character of Cultural Diversity 3 Civilization as the Unit of Kant’s Philosophy of History 4 Civilization, Aesthetics and Morality 5 A Kantian Insight for Reconciling Universality and Diversity 6 Recovering the Moral Value of Historical Humanity References Chapter 5: Kantian Philosophy as a Philosophy of Culture 1 Introduction 2 Fundamental Notes on the Explicit Concept of Culture 3 Another Look at Kant’s Genetic Approach to Culture 4 Moral Approach to Culture 5 Toward a Critical Concept of Culture 6 Conclusion References Index