Kant and Applied Ethics

Matthew C. Altman is an associate professor of philosophy and chair of the Philosophy & Religious Studies Department at Central Washington University. In addition to articles in ethics, applied ethics, and the history of philosophy, he is the author of A Companion to Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason" (2008), co-author of The Fractured Self in Freud and German Philosophy (2013), and editor of The Palgrave Handbook of German Idealism (2014).

Preface vi

Note on Sources and Key to Abbreviations viii

Introduction: Why Kant Now 1

Part I. Applying Kant’s Ethics 11

1. Animal Suffering and Moral Character 13

2. Kant’s Strategic Importance for Environmental Ethics 45

3. Moral and Legal Arguments for Universal Health Care 71

4. The Scope of Patient Autonomy 90

Part II. Kantian Arguments against Kant’s Conclusions 115

5. Subjecting Ourselves to Capital Punishment 117

6. Same-Sex Marriage as a Means to Mutual Respect 139

Part III. Limitations of Kant’s Theory 165

7. Consent, Mail-Order Brides, and the Marriage Contract 167

8. Individual Maxims and Social Justice 194

9. The Decomposition of the Corporate Body 217

10. Becoming a Person 241

Conclusion: Emerging from Kant’s Long Shadow 283

Bibliography 289

Index 311