Allen W. Wood

The prose is atrocious (example below), and the sentence structure quite convoluted throughout. Not a good introduction to Kant.

In this way, Kant is seen as leading out of eighteenth-century aesthetics, which generally viewed beauty generally and art in particular in terms of their functions in moral psychology and moral education, and into a new, more modern and liberated aesthetics in which art is seen as having its own independent function in human life apart from morality or any other goodness-oriented enterprise.… (más)

Wood, Allen W. Kantian Ethics. Cambridge UP, 2007.
Kant is a philosopher who writes on a higher level of abstraction than most philosophers. Allen Wood does a good job of freeing Kant’s arguments from Kant’s difficult syntax without oversimplifying them. He also elaborates on the definitions of some of Kant’s more gnomic terms. That alone makes the book worth reading for anyone with a nodding acquaintance Kantian thought. He is especially helpful in explaining what Kant meant by “duty,” a crucial term he does not employ in its colloquial sense. Wood is clear that he finds Kantian ethical principles imperfect but less so than the principles of competing systems of ethics. Wood is at pains to defend Kantian principles and reinterpret some of Kant’s more controversial ideas in ways that make more sense than his critics would admit. For example, he explains the rhetorical context in which Kant was led to say one could not lie to a murderer. However, he is also quick to point out instances where Kant does not escape the prejudices of his culture. His defense of marriage, for example, seems firmly rooted in convention. Wood also does a nice job of pointing out similarities as well as differences between Kant and the Utilitarians. In sum, this was a very helpful book. 4 stars.… (más)

This remarkable selection of Kant's most interesting political writing is perhaps the simplest & best existing approach to an otherwise difficult & demanding philosopher. It also works as an excellent intro to the Age of Enlightenment, or to political thinking in general.

One thing stands out before all: in this book, Kant is never abstruse, & at times almost an easy read. His political writings have always been among his more lucid. Even when presenting curious notions such as "emancipation" or "perpetual peace", he works very hard to make clear what these concepts are *not*. Perpetual peace, for instance, is no particularly naive concept. Instead it expresses how specific circumstances may *force* nations, almost like checkmated kings, to remain durably at peace.

But what makes this precise edition stand out is the modern scholarly material.

The last third of the book holds 3 essays by modern political thinkers: "Kant's Theory of the State", "Kant's Philosophy of History", "Kant & Liberal Internationalism". The latter of these essays also addresses the notion of perpetual peace, but now in light of the most recent empirical confirmations that yes, liberal democracies avoid wars against each other (& so a world where all nations have become liberal democracies, could indeed enjoy perpetual peace).

The book thus succeeds from a dynamic combination: that of the quality & contemporary relevance of the modern essays, working together with Kant's own writing, well selected for clarity & relevance. This mix gives the reader a genuine familiarity with core Kantian notions.

If you're among the many of us who at some point found Kant incomprehensible, this, rather perhaps than a diluted guide "for beginners", could be the right book.… (más)