This book sheds new light on the fascinating—at times dark and at times hopeful—reception of classical Yoga philosophies in Germany during the nineteenth century.

When debates over God, religion, and morality were at a boiling point in Europe, Sanskrit translations of classical Indian thought became available for the first time. Almost overnight India became the centre of a major controversy concerning the origins of western religious and intellectual culture. Working forward from this controversy, this book examines how early translations of works such as the Bhagavad Gītā and the Yoga Sūtras were caught in the crossfire of another debate concerning the rise of pantheism, as a doctrine that identifies God and nature. It shows how these theological concerns shaped the image of Indian thought in the work of Schlegel, Günderrode, Humboldt, Hegel, Schelling, and others, lasting into the nineteenth century and beyond. Furthermore, this book explores how worries about the perceived nihilism of Yoga were addressed by key voices in the early twentieth century Indian Renaissance—notably Dasgupta, Radhakrishnan, and Bhattacharyya—who defended sophisticated counter-readings of their intellectual heritage during the colonial era.

Written for non-specialists, Indian Philosophy and Yoga in Germany will be of interest to students and scholars working on nineteenth-century philosophy, Indian philosophy, comparative philosophy, Hindu studies, intellectual history, and religious history.

Reviews

"Owen Ware's instructive and at times even entertaining study of the reception of Yoga philosophy in nineteenth century Germany is a valuable contribution to current attempts to look beyond overly narrow constructions of the philosophical canon. And the final chapter, which addresses the early twentieth century Calcutta philosophers is an important addition to the study of world philosophies."—Robert Bernasconi, Penn State University.

"The monolithic civilizational narrative of 'Western philosophy' is undergoing serious critical reflection, and Owen Ware builds on existing scholarship and offers further revision in this study. Following 'yoga' down its pathways in post-Enlightenment German philosophy, Ware offers an accessible account of the cross-cultural anxiety of influence that lingers in modern philosophy, and—even more importantly—an account of the South Asian intellectuals who came to know this narrative and answered in no uncertain terms."—Bradley L. Herling, Marymount Manhattan College.

Kant’s early critics maintained that his theory of freedom faces a dilemma: either it reduces the will’s activity to strict necessity by making it subject to the causality of the moral law, or it reduces the will’s activity to blind chance by liberating it from rules of any kind. This Element offers a new interpretation of Kant’s theory against the backdrop of this controversy. It argues that Kant was a consistent proponent of the claim that the moral law is the causal law of a free will, and that the supposed ability of free will to choose indifferently between options is an empty concept. Freedom, for Kant, is a power to initiate action from oneself, and the only way to exercise this power is through the law of one’s own will, the moral law. Immoral action is not thereby rendered impossible, but it also does not express a genuine ability.

Kant's arguments for the reality of human freedom and the normativity of the moral law continue to inspire work in contemporary moral philosophy. Many prominent ethicists invoke Kant, directly or indirectly, in their efforts to derive the authority of moral requirements from a more basic conception of action, agency, or rationality. But many commentators have detected a deep rift between the Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals and the Critique of Practical Reason, leaving Kant's project of justification exposed to conflicting assessments and interpretations. In this ground-breaking study of Kant, Owen Ware defends the controversial view that Kant's mature writings on ethics share a unified commitment to the moral law's primacy. Using both close analysis and historical contextualization, Owen Ware overturns a paradigmatic way of reading Kant's arguments for morality and freedom, situating them within Kant's critical methodology at large. The result is a novel understanding of Kant that challenges much of what goes under the banner of Kantian arguments for moral normativity today.

Reviews

Ware’s Kant’s Justification of Ethics “contains valuable contributions to many debates about the foundations of Kant’s ethical project. As such, it will be essential reading for anyone interested in the foundations of Kant’s ethics.”—Karl Schafer, University of Texas, Philosophical Quarterly

Owen Ware’s Kant’s Justification of Ethics is an “impressively researched, wide-ranging, and ground-clearing book.”—Jessica Tizzard, University Tübingen, Studi Kantiani

“Ware's work is excellent... [This book] continues the tradition of adding value to Kant scholarship by discussing Kant’s methods and aims.”—Martin Sticker, University of Bristol, Kantian Review

“Kant’s Justification of Ethics can be seen as a substantial work on Kant’s practical philosophy that at various points provides a fresh look at Kant’s arguments for human freedom and moral normativity.”—Steffi Schadow, Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf, Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie

“Owen Ware’s Kant’s Justification of Ethics is certainly a worthwhile read for scholars of Kant and normative ethics as well as advanced students of Kant’s practical philosophy. Well-written, conceptually strong, and clearly organized, Ware’s book manages to accomplish a great deal in terms of novel Kantian scholarship while at the same time constituting a useful general guidebook to the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, the Critique of Practical Reason, and to the philosophical task of justifying morality’s bindingness on us.”—Olga Lenczewska, University of North Carolina, British Journal for the History of Philosophy

Kant’s Justification of Ethics and Fichte’s Moral Philosophy are “chockful of stimulating interpretive theses, supported by outstanding scholarship and argument. To all interested in their topics, I highly recommend these books, each individually, but especially together.” —William F. Bristow, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, European Journal of Philosophy

Owen Ware here develops and defends a novel interpretation of Fichte's moral philosophy as an ethics of wholeness. While virtually forgotten for most of the twentieth century, Fichte's System of Ethics (1798) is now recognized by scholars as a masterpiece in the history of post-Kantian philosophy, as well as a key text for understanding the work of later German idealist thinkers. This book provides a careful examination of the intellectual context in which Fichte's moral philosophy evolved, and of the specific arguments he offers in response to Kant and his immediate successors. A distinctive feature of this study is a focus on the foundational concepts of Fichte's ethics—freedom, morality, feeling, conscience, community—and their connection to his innovative but largely misunderstood theory of drives. By way of conclusion, the book shows that what appears to be two conflicting commitments in Fichte's ethics—a commitment to the feelings of one's conscience and a commitment to engage in open dialogue with others—are two aspects of his theory of moral perfection. The result is a sharp understanding of Fichte's System of Ethics as offering a compelling resolution to the personal and interpersonal dimensions of moral life.

Reviews

“Fichte’s Moral Philosophy is a major contribution not just to Fichte scholarship but to normative ethical theory as such. Specialists will be impressed by Ware’s meticulous scholarship and familiarity with all the relevant primary and secondary literature, as well as by his judicious engagement with (as well as anticipation of) opposing interpretations of Fichte’s moral philosophy … It is a rare pleasure to encounter a treatise as well written, carefully argued, and broadly informed as this landmark contribution to both Fichte studies and ethical theory.”—Daniel Breazeale, University of Kentucky, Ethics

“Owen Ware’s book is impressively multifaceted… This is a splendid study: historically informed, neatly organized, carefully argued, and on many points appreciably innovative… Specialists in Kantian moral philosophy and post- Kantian thought need to read this book; so, too, should anyone interested in conceptually creative, incisive ethical thinking along distinctly post-Kantian (and pre-Hegelian) lines.”—Steven Hoeltzel, James Madison University, MIND

“Owen Ware’s book… is a first-class contribution to the Fichte scholarship… It will be a staple of the conversation on Fichte for years to come.”—Rory Lawrence Phillips, University College London, Philosophy

“This is simply an exceptional book, clearly written and argued and a delight to read. It is required reading for anyone interested in German Idealism or in normative ethics in general.”—Jeffery Kinlaw, McMurry University, Review of Metaphysics

“Ware has opened a line of interpretation that presents a less austere Fichte, a Fichte for whom we are fully embodied and situated in a world. The ethics of wholeness Ware emphasizes will be congenial to many contemporary philosophers. Fichte’s Moral Philosophy should become a key text in coming years, and I look forward to seeing how Fichte scholarship builds upon this work.”—Jane Dryden, Mount Allison University, Symposium

The System of Ethics was published at the height of Fichte's academic career and marks the culmination of his philosophical development in Jena. Much more than a treatise on ethics narrowly construed, the System of Ethics presents a unified synthesis of Fichte's core philosophical ideas, including the principle I-hood, self-activity and self-consciousness, and also contains his most detailed treatment of action and agency. This volume brings together an international group of leading scholars on Fichte, and is the first of its kind in English to offer critical and interpretive perspectives on this work, covering topics such as normativity, belief, justification, desire, duty, and the ethical life. It will be an essential guide for scholars wanting to deepen their understanding of Fichte's ethical thought, as well as for those interested in the history of ethics more broadly.

• Contains ten essays from an international group of leading Fichte scholars

• Sheds light on the path from Kant to Hegel by taking Fichte's largely neglected work seriously

• Contributes to a rising wave of interest in Fichte, especially his ethical thought

Reviews

“One will find in Bacin and Ware’s volume not only an expansion of the possible normative ethical views attributed to Fichte (we can add, for example, moral particularism and normative perfectionism), but also ten well-crafted essays that develop novel and, on the whole, insightful interpretations of Fichte’s System of Ethics.”—Gabriel Gottlieb, Xavier University, Journal of Moral Philosophy