1. Why does Kant say, specifically in relation to moral matters, that "the worth of practice rests entirely on its appropriateness to its underlying theory" (p. 62)?

2. Some people believe that anyone who acts morally does so merely because of the pleasure it gives her/him to help others. Kant expresses his opposition to this view as follows: "Therefore, that old litany--namely, that this feeling, consequently a pleasure that we set out as an end, is the first cause of the will's determination and that, as a result, happiness (of which that pleasure is an element) is, indeed, the basis of all objective necessity in action and hence of all obligation--is a trifling sophistry." (P. 67) Do you agree?

3. Explain and evaluate Kant's account of the social contract.

4. Kant repeatedly urges upon us the importance of free speech? What does he mean by this? Look, in particular, at the essay "What is Enlightenment?" How does he there reconcile free speech with the need for order in society? Evaluate his position on this issue.

5. In his essay "Perpetual Peace" Kant makes the following statement (p. 120): Perpetual peace is insured (guaranteed) by nothing less than that great artist nature (Natural daedala rerum), whose mechanical process makes her purposiveness [Zweckmassingkeit) visibly manifest, permitting harmony to emerge among men through their discord, even against their wills.

6. Why is Kant making such a remarkable claim? What entitles him to have such confidence in the future? How persuasive is his analysis

7. In his essay "Perpetual Peace" Kant makes an important distinction between political moralists and moral politician. What is this distinction, and why does Kant introduce it? What important point does he want us to grasp about the importance of moral thinking in political activity? You might want to consider whether or not Kant's analysis here is a satisfactory response to Machiavelli's The Prince.

8. Select one paragraph in one of the essay by Kant (one which you think is particularly interesting, important, problematic, or otherwise worthy of attention), and by a very careful attention to what Kant is saying, discuss the significance and the adequacy of the argument in that paragraph. It would be useful to discuss the immediate context of the paragraph (i.e., what overall argument is Kant conducting at this point), but confine your attention by and large to the paragraph you have selected. How does a careful attention to this paragraph illuminate some important issues in Kant's moral position?

9. In his essay "Speculative Beginning of Human History" Kant offers an interpretation of Genesis, stressing that this story the "exit from that paradise that reason represents as the first dwelling place its species was nothing but the transition from the raw state of a merely animal creature to humanity, for the harness of the instincts to the guidance of reason--in a word, from the guardianship of nature to the state of freedom" (53). Evaluate this claim? How adequate is Kant's interpretation of Genesis?