Groundwork i-ii
Something jumps out at me already and I'm only two paragraphs in my deep analysis. The first paragraph points out that a three-fold division of philosophy into logic, physics, and ethics is appropriate, but Kant thinks a principle is needed to ground these three parts and ensure completeness (i.e., showing a fourth part isn't missing).
The second paragraph though is surprising and I'm thinking Kant is exactly the philosopher for me. He says rational knowledge is material (concerned with definite objects) or formal (concerned with reason and its universal rules of thinking). The formal philosophy is logic, while the material philosophy is concerned with the laws that govern them, and these laws are of two separate kinds: laws of nature (physics) and laws of freedom (ethics). Kant thinks the purpose of practical philosophy is ensuring freedom.
I don't think this is the way thinkers of the last 200 years approach this subject. Not cultural mores. Not happiness. Not the collective good. As Kant starts his journey into ethics, he lays out what drives him: human freedom. This journey is worth joining.
© 2026 Cory Lanker. (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).