Kant on Rational Sympathy

Benjamin Vilhauer

ISBN 10: 1009371177 / ISBN 13: 9781009371179

Published by Cambridge University Press, GB, 2025

About this Item

This Element explains Kant's distinction between rational sympathy and natural sympathy. Rational sympathy is regulated by practical reason and is necessary for adopting as our own those ends of others which are contingent from the perspective of practical rationality. Natural sympathy is passive and can prompt affect and dispose us to act wrongly. Sympathy is a function of a posteriori productive imagination. In rational sympathy, we freely use the imagination to step into others' first-person perspectives and associate imagined intuitional contents with the concepts others use to communicate their feelings. This prompts feelings in us that are like their feelings.

Seller Inventory # LU-9781009371179

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Kant on Rational Sympathy
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, GB
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1009371177
• ISBN 13: 9781009371179
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New
• Dimensions: 15.24W x 0.43H x 22.86D centimeters 15.24 centimeters width by 0.43 centimeters height by 22.86 centimeters depth
• Weight: 140 grams

About this title

Synopsis

This Element explains Kant's distinction between rational sympathy and natural sympathy. Rational sympathy is regulated by practical reason and is necessary for adopting as our own those ends of others which are contingent from the perspective of practical rationality. Natural sympathy is passive and can prompt affect and dispose us to act wrongly. Sympathy is a function of a posteriori productive imagination. In rational sympathy, we freely use the imagination to step into others' first-person perspectives and associate imagined intuitional contents with the concepts others use to communicate their feelings. This prompts feelings in us that are like their feelings.