Aesthetic Judgment and the Moral Image of the World: Studies in Kant

This is a collection of four essays on aesthetic, ethical, and political issues by the pre-eminent Kant scholar in Germany today, perhaps best known for rekindling interest in the great classical German tradition from Kant to Fichte. The first essay summarises Henrich’s researches into the development of Kant’s moral philosophy. In the second, Henrich analyses the interrelations between Kant’s aesthetics and his cognitive theories. The third essay argues that the justification of the claim that human rights are universally valid requires reference to a moral image of the world. In an ambitious concluding essay, Henrich compares the development of the political process of the French Revolution and the course of classical German philosophy, and raises the general question of the relation between political processes and theorising.