Kant

Herder

Notes from Kant’s
Moral Philosophy Lectures

[ Introduction ] [ Metaphysics ] [ Moral Philosophy ] [ Physical Geogr. ] [ Logic ] [ Physics ] [ Math. ] [ Varia ]

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Manuscripts: The manuscripts are accessed by clicking on the red-links in the light yellow window at the top of the page (e.g., [B (XXV.43)]).

Explanatory Notes / Textual Notes: See the two windows to the right for explanatory and textual notes. The text in those windows on this page explains what you will find in them.

[ Introduction ] [ Overview of the Moral Philosophy Lectures ] [ List of Manuscripts ] [ Concordance ]

Introduction

Herder’s notes on Moral Philosophy consist of 63 manuscript pages (27 4° and 36 8°), with sheet size varying from 9.5 x 16.5 cm to 19 x 23.5 cm. The type of paper also varies; most watermarks are not identifiable. The sheets are numbered continuously. These notes come from two separate manuscript folders (XXV.42 and XXV.43) but fall naturally into four groups (A, B, C, D). They constitute the third largest set of Herder’s notes from Kant’s lectures.

Kant is listed as lecturing on moral philosophy during two semesters when Herder was a student: winter 1763-64 and winter 1764-65. Because he left during the middle of the latter semester, it is most likely that the notes stem from the former.

Previous transcriptions of these notes are found in Irmscher (1964, 89-178) and Lehmann (1974, AA 27: 3-78) [list of errata].

Overview of the Moral Philosophy Lectures [top]

Kant lectured on moral philosophy a total of twenty-eight times during the eighty-two semesters teaching at the university, beginning with his third semester (winter 1756-57: listed as “Ethik” in the offical catalog of courses), offering the course every two or three years, with the last semester being winter 1793-94 (listed as: “Metaphysik der Sitten oder Allgemeine praktische Philosophie samt Ethik nach Baumgarten”).

We have five distinct sets of notes on moral philosophy, with the Herder notes being the earliest, followed by the Kaehler group of notes (1774-77), then Powalski (1782-83), Mrongovius (1784-85), and Vigilantius (1793-94). The Kaehler group – of which the Kaehler set of notes is thought to stand closest to the actual lectures – also includes the more widely-published sets of notes ascribed to Brauer (Menzer 1924 followed by many translations) and Collins (the Academy edition).

Karl Andreas Christiani (1701-1780) was the Professor of Practical Philosophy at the time and would have been offering free (public) lectures on moral philosophy (summer) and natural law (winter). Other professors under whom Herder also studied were, like Kant, offering private lectures on moral philosophy – most notably Friedrich Johann Buck, the Professor of Logic and Metaphysics. We have no reason to believe, however, that these notes do not stem from Kant’s lectures, and the content of the notes are clearly based on the two textbooks used by Kant – both by Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten – and which he first used in combination in the early 1760’s: Baumgarten’s Initia philosophiae practicae primae acroamatice (1760) and Ethica philosophica (1740; 2nd ed: 1751, 3rd ed: 1763).[1] A typical formulation published in the Lecture Catalog for his course: “Allgemeine praktische Philosophie und Ethik nach Baumgarten.”

Herder’s notes routinely make direct reference to Baumgarten’s textbooks on moral philosophy, which we quote in linked explanatory notes. In these two moral philosophy textbooks Baumgarten often refers to his metaphysics textbook with an upper-case ‘M’ followed by the paragraph number (e.g., ‘M. §185’); these paragraphs to the Metaphysica textbook can be found in the section on Herder’s metaphysics notes.

Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, Initia philosophiae practicae, primae acroamatice. Halle: Carl H. Hemmerde, 1760. [139 p., with an unpaginated 13 p. index.] [Introduction to Practical First Philosophy][2]

Prolegomena (§§1-9).

Chapter One: Obligation (obligatio)

1. Obligation in general (obligatio in genere) (§§10-49).

2. Moral constraint (coactio moralis) (§§50-59).

Chapter Two: What Obligates (obligantia)

1. Law (lex)(§§60-75).

2. Skill in law (iuris peritia) (§§76-86).

3. Principles of law (principia iuris)(§§87-99).

4. Legislator (legislator)(§§100-5).

5. Rewards (praemia)(§§106-14).

6. Punishments (poenae)(§§115-24).

7. Imputation of action (imputatio facti)(§§125-48).

8. The author (auctor)(§§149-58).

9. Degrees of imputability (gradus imputabilitatis)(§§159-70).

10. Imputation under law (imputatio legis)(§§171-79).

11. Forum (forum)(§§180-85).

12. External forum (forum externum)(§§186-99).

13. Conscience (conscientia)(§§200-5).

Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, Ethica philosophica scripsit acroamatice. 2nd edition. Halle: Carl H. Hemmerde, 1751. [282 p., with an unpaginated 19 p. index.] (³1763). The 1763 edition introduces German equivalents to key words. [Philosophical Ethics][3]

Prolegomena (§§1-10)

I. General

A. Religion (religio)

1. Internal (interna): knowledge of God, inner worship and prayer, pious habits (§§11-109).

2. External (externa): confession, studying to promote religion, pious examples and ceremonies, etc. (§§110-49).

B. Duties toward oneself (officia erga te ipsum)

1. General (generatim): knowledge and judgment of oneself, duties towards conscience, and self-love (§§150-200).

2. Special (speciatim): duties towards the soul (intellect and appetites), the body, one’s reputation (§§201-300).

C. Duties toward others (officia erga alia)

1. General (§§301-3).

2. Special, both human (erga alios homines) (§§304-90) and non-human (erga alia, quae non sunt homines) (§§391-99).

II. Special

D. Special duties regarding the soul (animae officia): learned/unlearned (eruditorum et ineruditorum)(§§400-25), virtuous/vicious (virtuosi et vitiosi) (§§426-50).

E. Special duties regarding the body (corporis officia): different ages (aetatum) (§§451-60), healthy/sick (sanorum et aegrotorum) (§§461-70).

F. Special duties regarding one’s external standing (status externi officia)(§§471-500).

List of Manuscripts [top]

The manuscripts are in two collections of Herder’s Nachlaß housed in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz: XXV.42 (one 8° signature) and XXV.43 (thirteen signatures, eight quarto and five octavo). The manuscripts fall naturally into four groups based on their format and their references to the Baumgarten texts.

XXV.42 (8°: 10 x 16.5 cm): 8 pp. Text in ink. [42(A) 1-8]

XXV.43/1 (4°: 17 x 21.5 cm): 1 p. Text in ink. [43(B) 1]

XXV.43/2 (4°: 17 x 21.5 cm): 4 pp. Text in ink. [43(B) 2-5]

XXV.43/3 (4°: 17 x 21.5 cm): 8 pp. Text in ink. [43(B) 6-13]

XXV.43/4 (4°: 16.25 x 21 cm): 4 pp. Text in ink. [43(B 14-17)]

XXV.43/5 (4°: 17 x 22 cm): 2 pp. Text in ink. [43(C) 1-2]

XXV.43/6 (4°: 19 x 23 cm): 2 pp. Text in ink. [43(C) 3-4]

XXV.43/7 (4°: 17 x 22 cm): 4 pp. Text in ink. [43(C) 5-8]

XXV.43/8 (4°: 17 x 22 cm): 2 pp. Text in ink. [43(C) 9-10]

XXV.43/9 (4°: 10.5 x 16 cm): 2 pp. Text in ink. [43(D) 1-8]

XXV.43/10 (4°: 10 x 17.25 cm): 2 pp. Text in ink. [43(D) 9-11]

XXV.43/11 (4°: 10 x 17.25 cm): 2 pp. Text in ink. [43(D) 12-19]

XXV.43/12 (4°: 10 x 17.25 cm): 2 pp. Text in ink. [43(D) 20-27]

XXV.43/13 (4°: 10 x 16.5 cm): 2 pp. Text in ink. [43(D) 28][4]