I work on classical German philosophy (especially Fichte and Hegel), and on issues in ethics (practical reason) and political philosophy (foundations of liberalism). I also have projects underway in 19th century American philosophy and philosophy and literature.
The Oxford Handbook of Hegel is a comprehensive guide to the philosophy of G. W. F. Hegel, the la... more The Oxford Handbook of Hegel is a comprehensive guide to the philosophy of G. W. F. Hegel, the last major thinker in the philosophical movement known as German Idealism. Beginning with chapters on his first published writings, the authors draw out Hegel’s debts to his predecessors and highlight the themes and arguments that have proven the most influential over the past two centuries. There are six chapters each on the Phenomenology of Spirit and The Science of Logic, and in-depth analyses of the Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences. Five chapters cover Hegel’s philosophy of law, action, and the ethical and political philosophy presented in his Philosophy of Right. Several chapters cover the many recently edited lecture series from the 1820s, bringing new clarity to Hegel’s conception of aesthetics, the philosophy of religion, and the history of philosophy. The concluding part focuses on Hegel’s legacy, from his role in the formation of Marx’s philosophy to his importance for cont...
Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814) is one of the founders of the philosophical movement known as ... more Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814) is one of the founders of the philosophical movement known as German idealism. He is most often discussed as a transitional figure between Immanuel Kant (see Kant, Immanuel) and G. W. F. Hegel (see Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich), but he deserves to stand in his own right as one of the greatest innovators in modern ethical philosophy. He was an uncompromising advocate of human freedom and a relentless systematizer who inaugurated a new method of philosophical idealism. Elevated by a wealthy benefactor from a working-class background to an education with Saxony's elite at the famous Pforta school in Leipzig, the school attended later by Friedrich Nietzsche (see Nietzsche, Friedrich), Fichte struggled to establish his own intellectual and professional position until his reading of Kant's critical philosophy in 1790 (especially the Critique of Practical Reason) inspired him to develop his own philosophy of freedom. In 1792 he burst onto the philosophical scene as a result of his first work, Attempt at a Critique of All Revelation, which was published anonymously and widely mistaken, initially, as authored by Kant himself. Fichte would go on to have an enormously influential stint as a professor at the University of Jena (1794–9); this period came to an end with his dismissal for alleged atheism. He continued to teach and write in Berlin, and he would eventually become the first elected rector of the newly founded university in Berlin (later the Humboldt University). Fichte's philosophical system, which he called the Wissenschaftslehre (the “Doctrine of Science”), continued to evolve throughout his career, but it had its most lasting influence in the versions taught and published while he was in Jena (see La Vopa 2001 for a good account of Fichte's development and Jena career). The following discussion focuses on the Jena period writings, and in particular on his System of Ethics of 1798. Keywords: ethics; agency; conscience; freedom
In this paper I argue that Kant's claims about conscience in his moral writings of the 1790s reve... more In this paper I argue that Kant's claims about conscience in his moral writings of the 1790s reveal a fundamental instability in his moral philosophy. Th e central issue is the relationship between the moral law as the form of universality and the judgment of individuals about specifi c cases. Against Th omas Hill's claim that Kant has only a limited role for conscience, I argue that conscience has a comprehensive role in Kantian deliberation. I unpack the claims about conscience in the Metaphysics of Morals to show that they describe conscience as both a basic act of self-consciousness and as an all-things-considered judgment. I outline the role of conscience in moral motivation, and argue that taken together Kant's writings about conscience reveal a way to rethink Kant's conception of the Fact of Reason.
In Kant's Defense of Common Moral Experience: A Phenomenological Account, Jeanine Grenberg argues... more In Kant's Defense of Common Moral Experience: A Phenomenological Account, Jeanine Grenberg argues for the centrality to Kant's ethics of the experience of the feeling of moral constraint, especially as that feeling is described in Kant's fact of reason argument. She criticizes interpretations of the fact of reason that interpret it as primarily a certain kind of act. I defend my version of an act-based interpretation against Grenberg's criticisms, flesh out the Fichtean background of that interpretation and raise some further questions about Grenberg's account.
The Oxford Handbook of Hegel is a comprehensive guide to the philosophy of G. W. F. Hegel, the la... more The Oxford Handbook of Hegel is a comprehensive guide to the philosophy of G. W. F. Hegel, the last major thinker in the philosophical movement known as German Idealism. Beginning with chapters on his first published writings, the authors draw out Hegel’s debts to his predecessors and highlight the themes and arguments that have proven the most influential over the past two centuries. There are six chapters each on the Phenomenology of Spirit and The Science of Logic, and in-depth analyses of the Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences. Five chapters cover Hegel’s philosophy of law, action, and the ethical and political philosophy presented in his Philosophy of Right. Several chapters cover the many recently edited lecture series from the 1820s, bringing new clarity to Hegel’s conception of aesthetics, the philosophy of religion, and the history of philosophy. The concluding part focuses on Hegel’s legacy, from his role in the formation of Marx’s philosophy to his importance for cont...
Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814) is one of the founders of the philosophical movement known as ... more Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814) is one of the founders of the philosophical movement known as German idealism. He is most often discussed as a transitional figure between Immanuel Kant (see Kant, Immanuel) and G. W. F. Hegel (see Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich), but he deserves to stand in his own right as one of the greatest innovators in modern ethical philosophy. He was an uncompromising advocate of human freedom and a relentless systematizer who inaugurated a new method of philosophical idealism. Elevated by a wealthy benefactor from a working-class background to an education with Saxony's elite at the famous Pforta school in Leipzig, the school attended later by Friedrich Nietzsche (see Nietzsche, Friedrich), Fichte struggled to establish his own intellectual and professional position until his reading of Kant's critical philosophy in 1790 (especially the Critique of Practical Reason) inspired him to develop his own philosophy of freedom. In 1792 he burst onto the philosophical scene as a result of his first work, Attempt at a Critique of All Revelation, which was published anonymously and widely mistaken, initially, as authored by Kant himself. Fichte would go on to have an enormously influential stint as a professor at the University of Jena (1794–9); this period came to an end with his dismissal for alleged atheism. He continued to teach and write in Berlin, and he would eventually become the first elected rector of the newly founded university in Berlin (later the Humboldt University). Fichte's philosophical system, which he called the Wissenschaftslehre (the “Doctrine of Science”), continued to evolve throughout his career, but it had its most lasting influence in the versions taught and published while he was in Jena (see La Vopa 2001 for a good account of Fichte's development and Jena career). The following discussion focuses on the Jena period writings, and in particular on his System of Ethics of 1798. Keywords: ethics; agency; conscience; freedom
In this paper I argue that Kant's claims about conscience in his moral writings of the 1790s reve... more In this paper I argue that Kant's claims about conscience in his moral writings of the 1790s reveal a fundamental instability in his moral philosophy. Th e central issue is the relationship between the moral law as the form of universality and the judgment of individuals about specifi c cases. Against Th omas Hill's claim that Kant has only a limited role for conscience, I argue that conscience has a comprehensive role in Kantian deliberation. I unpack the claims about conscience in the Metaphysics of Morals to show that they describe conscience as both a basic act of self-consciousness and as an all-things-considered judgment. I outline the role of conscience in moral motivation, and argue that taken together Kant's writings about conscience reveal a way to rethink Kant's conception of the Fact of Reason.
In Kant's Defense of Common Moral Experience: A Phenomenological Account, Jeanine Grenberg argues... more In Kant's Defense of Common Moral Experience: A Phenomenological Account, Jeanine Grenberg argues for the centrality to Kant's ethics of the experience of the feeling of moral constraint, especially as that feeling is described in Kant's fact of reason argument. She criticizes interpretations of the fact of reason that interpret it as primarily a certain kind of act. I defend my version of an act-based interpretation against Grenberg's criticisms, flesh out the Fichtean background of that interpretation and raise some further questions about Grenberg's account.
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Papers by Dean Moyar