Rescuing Autonomy from Kant: Historical Materialism

James Furner is the author of Marx on Capitalism: the Interaction-Recognition-Antinomy Thesis.

Part I Three Views of Marxism’s Relation to Kant’s Ethics

Introduction to Part I
1 Against the Irrelevance View
1 The Instrumental Reasons Argument
2 The False Claims Argument
3 The Ideology Argument
4 The Class Interests Argument
5 Summary
2 Against the Complementarity View, Part 1: Socialist Strategy
1 The Complementarity View: Stammler, Staudinger, Vorländer
2 An Objection to the Complementarity View
3 The Deficient Self-Understanding Claim: A Critique
3 Against the Complementarity View, Part 2: Can Kant’s Formula of the End in Itself Condemn Capitalism?
1 FEI-Based Arguments against Capitalism
2 Kant’s Never Merely as a Means Principle
3 Applying FEI: Some General Considerations
4 Applying FEI beyond Kant
5 Evaluation of the Arguments
6 FEI and General Injustice
7 Conclusion
4 Against the Incompatibility View
1 Two Components of Human Freedom
2 Marx on Human Freedom
3 The True Realm of Freedom and the Realm of Necessity
4 The Link to Autonomy
5 Marx on the Autonomy of a Human Community
6 Marx’s Commitment to a Critique of Kant’s Ethics
7 Summary
Part II A Critique of Kant’s Ethics

Introduction to Part II
5 Kant’s Contradiction in Conception Test
1 The Basic Features of the Causal-Teleological Version of LCI
2 Further Features of a Causal-Teleological Version of LCI
3 The Suicide Maxim
4 The False Promising Maxim
5 Summary
6 Kant’s Contradiction in the Will Test
1 Assessment Criteria
2 Assessing the Existing Interpretations
3 The Extravagant Imperfect Nature Interpretation
4 Formulating the Groundwork’s Two Maxims
5 The Maxim of Neglecting Natural Gifts
6 The Maxim of Refusing to Help
7 Summary
7 The Principle of Suitability Interpretation of Kant’s Formula of the Law of Nature
1 The Contradiction in Conception Test
2 The Contradiction in the Will Test
8 Kant’s Argument for the Formula of the End in Itself
1 The Structure of Kant’s Argument for FEI
2 Steps 1–3
3 Step 4: the Logical Pluralism Version of Kant’s Regressive Argument
4 Advantages of the Logical Pluralism Version of Kant’s Regressive Argument
5 Humanity, Personality and a Belief in the Existence of God
9 Kant’s Arguments for a Belief in the Existence of God
1 Kant’s Concept of the Highest Good
2 The Argument from the Highest Good
3 Wood’s Version of the Argument from the Highest Good
4 The Objection from Moral Happiness
5 The Physicoteleological Argument
6 Conclusion
Part III Founding a Post-Kantian Ethics

Introduction to Part III
10 A Marxist Argument for Autonomy
1 Relativising Practical Reason
2 An Argumentative Strategy
3 The Need for a Duty to the Whole
4 The General Features of a Foundational Argument
5 A Lesson from Mill’s ‘Proof’
6 The Distinctive Features of a Marxist Foundational Argument
7 A Simple Account of Capitalism’s Basic Structure
8 Explaining the Premises
9 The Rights-Antinomy
10 Resolving the Rights-Antinomy
11 The System Universalisability Principle of Justice
12 The Autonomy of a Human Community
13 Summary
14 The Justification of Socialist Strategy
15 Conclusion
Bibliography
Index