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4 - Gottlob August Tittel

Introduction

from Part II - Between the Critiques

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2025

Michael Walschots
Affiliation:
Martin Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Germany
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Summary

Gottlob August Tittel (1739–1816) was a professor at a Gymnasium in Karlsruhe and is best known as an early critic of Kant’s theoretical and practical philosophy. This chapter contains selections from his On Herr Kant’s Reform of Moral Science (1786), the first book-length commentary on the Groundwork. In this text, Tittel makes several important objections to the Groundwork, many of which have since become classic, such as: that the categorical imperative is empty, that the motive of duty for duty’s sake is impotent in human nature, and that Kant is a covert consequentialist. Tittel’s most famous objection, however, is that the categorical imperative is not a new principle of morality, but merely a new formula of a principle philosophers have known for a long time. Kant was aware of the Reform, and he responds to Tittel in a footnote in the Preface to the second Critique (see 5:8.28–37n).

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Chapter
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Kant's Critique of Practical Reason
Background Source Materials
, pp. 93 - 95
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • Gottlob August Tittel
  • Michael Walschots, Martin Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Germany
  • Book: Kant's <i>Critique of Practical Reason</i>
  • Online publication: 31 January 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108846899.012
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  • Gottlob August Tittel
  • Michael Walschots, Martin Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Germany
  • Book: Kant's <i>Critique of Practical Reason</i>
  • Online publication: 31 January 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108846899.012
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Gottlob August Tittel
  • Michael Walschots, Martin Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Germany
  • Book: Kant's <i>Critique of Practical Reason</i>
  • Online publication: 31 January 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108846899.012
Available formats
×