This book offers the first substantial account of Alexander Gottlieb Baumgartenâs significant influence on Kantâs ethics. Arguing that Baumgartenâs impact is more extensive and profound than previously thought the book provides a novel interpretation of the formation of Kantâs ethical framework. Scholars have made use of Baumgartenâs Ethica philosophica (1740) to elucidate Kantâs complex terminology and to provide a background against which to understand Kantâs nuanced relationship to his predecessors. To date however no English book explores the specific influence of Baumgartenâs Ethica on Kant. This book comments on passages from the Ethica and contrasts them with Kantâs treatment of the same concepts topics and questions in his ethics. Notably Baumgarten articulates ethics around the concept of duty and the principle of perfection leading to his version of the categorical imperative: âperfect yourselfâ. While Kant rejects this ethical framework it is evident that he directly adopts Baumgartenâs ideas and critiques them at the same time. Each chapter examines a major topic: the relationship between religion and ethics duties to oneself duties to others duties in particular cases and the relationship between ethics and political philosophy. Baumgartenâs Legacy in Kantâs Ethics is an essential resource for scholars and advanced students working on Kant 18th-century philosophy and the history of ethics. . Language: English