Scholarship on Kant's practical philosophy has often overlooked its reception in the early days of post-Kantian philosophy and German Idealism. This volume of new essays illuminates that reception and how it informed the development of practical philosophy between Kant and Hegel. The essays discuss, in addition to Kant, Hegel and Fichte, relatively little-known thinkers such as Pistorius, Ulrich, Maimon, Erhard, E. Reimarus, Reinhold, Jacobi, F. Schlegel, Humboldt, Dalberg, Gentz, Rehberg, and Möser. Issues discussed include the empty formalism objection, the separation between right and morality, freedom and determinism, nihilism, the right to revolution, ideology, and the limits of the liberal state. Taken together, the essays provide an historically informed and philosophically nuanced picture of the development of post-Kantian practical philosophy.

‘This book's title perfectly captures its content … This is certainly a niche work and will largely interest historical specialists. But the scholarship is solid and will give readers a vivid sense of the lively debates on practical philosophy that informed and reacted to the better-known works of Kant and Hegel … Recommended.’

S. E. Forschler Source: Choice

‘The conceptual richness, the fruitfulness of the themes addressed, just like the attention paid to underage authors, constitute the main merits of this collection, which allows to take little-explored paths within German classical philosophy.’

Sabina Tortorella Source: Archives de philosophie (translated from French)