Description: Jens Timmerman illuminates Immanuel Kant's answer to an age-old philosophical question: what happens when human beings fail to do as reason bids? He shows that Kant's hybrid theory comprises Socratic intellectualism in the realm of prudence along with an anti-intellectualist or volitional account of immoral action.
Review Quotes: "Jens Timmermann's work, Kant's Will at the Crossroads, provocatively and insightfully claims that Kantian moral theory has gone wrong by focusing unduly on cognition, as borne out by the associated talk of 'reasons'." -- British Journal for the History of Philosophy
"Timmermann develops a distinctive treatment of the principal ideas in Kant's moral psychology and conception of rational agency... Kant's Will at the Crossroad develops a comprehensive approach to Kant's conception of practical rationality supported by careful reading of the principal texts. By re affirming several (familiar) dualisms that other commentators have played down, it lays out an alternative to one influential trend in recent Kant scholarship. These issues are subtle and complex, and we should be grateful to Jens Timmermann for putting them on the table so clearly and giving us the opportunity to think them through once more." -- NDPR"Timmermann's work delivers in a way that will surprise many Kant interpreters by challenging certain mainstays of contemporary interpretation...if you want to know more about Kant's ethics, then you absolutely should read this book." -- European Journal of Philosophy"Jens Timmermann's work, Kant's Will at the Crossroads, provocatively and insightfully claims that Kantian moral theory has gone wrong by focusing unduly on cognition, as borne out by the associated talk of 'reasons'." -- British Journal for the History of Philosophy"Timmermann develops a distinctive treatment of the principal ideas in Kant's moral psychology and conception of rational agency... Kant's Will at the Crossroad develops a comprehensive approach to Kant's conception of practical rationality supported by careful reading of the principal texts. By re affirming several (familiar) dualisms that other commentators have played down, it lays out an alternative to one influential trend in recent Kant scholarship. These issues are subtle and complex, and we should be grateful to Jens Timmermann for putting them on the table so clearly and giving us the opportunity to think them through once more." -- NDPR"Timmermann's work delivers in a way that will surprise many Kant interpreters by challenging certain mainstays of contemporary interpretation...if you want to know more about Kant's ethics, then you absolutely should read this book." -- European Journal of Philosophy"Kant's Will at the Crossroads is a fantastic book, elegantly written and a pleasure to read, that advances a single clear argument defending a bold thesis about the nature of practical failure (both prudential and moral). Along the way, the book engages with countless related issues, always with clarity and concision and never as mere tangents...The book is a masterpiece of focused argument for a clear and ultimately simple (in the best sense) interpretation of Kant, even if its simplicity requires overturning what many will see as 'accomplishments' of Kant scholarship over the past fifty years." -- Kantian Review"This is a fascinating thesis, developed in an impressive and elegant book. Timmermann makes his case in fewer than 160 pages yet offers detailed analysis across the range of primary texts, as well as engagement with important interlocuters in the secondary literature... Timmermann's arguments have helped me think through some key features of Kant's account of practical reason and challenged me to do so further. This is a book I will be returning to, and one I highly recommend." -- Lucy Allais, The Journal of Philosophy