Audiobook · read by volunteers
Critique of Practical Reason
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)
Read by Sibella Denton, James Christopher, Ransom, Audio Andrea, Julie VW, Anna Simon, Carl Manchester, D.E. Wittkower, Gesine, Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023) · 19 chapters · 6 h 43
About the book
What ought I to do, and what gives an action moral worth? Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Practical Reason is his answer, and it is one of the central texts of modern ethics. Following his Critique of Pure Reason, it argues that human beings are capable of acting from duty, guided by a moral law that reason itself provides and that applies to everyone without exception. Along the way, Kant explores freedom, the nature of the will, the idea of the highest good and the role of respect. The work is demanding, but its questions are ones we all face. This recording uses the English translation by Thomas Kingsmill Abbott and is read by a team of LibriVox volunteers in nineteen parts, from the preface to the closing sections. It is a classic text for anyone who asks what duty means.
Introduction
Immanuel Kant lived from 1724 to 1804 and spent nearly all his life in Königsberg in Prussia. He is one of the most influential philosophers of the Western tradition. His Critique of Practical Reason, first published in 1788, is the second of his three critiques. It follows the Critique of Pure Reason, which had examined the limits of knowledge, and it turns to moral philosophy, asking what reason can tell us about how to act. The third, the Critique of Judgment, would follow in 1790.
The book introduces many ideas that have since become part of ethical discussion: that morality rests on a principle that can be willed as a universal law, that moral worth lies in acting from duty rather than from inclination, and that freedom is the foundation of moral life. Kant also reflects on the relation of virtue and happiness. His style is technical, and the argument is built step by step, so it helps to listen with attention and perhaps to take it in sections.
The English text recorded here is the translation by Thomas Kingsmill Abbott, from an edition of 1909. The recording is divided into 19 parts, for about six hours and forty minutes, and it is shared by a team of volunteers. For students of philosophy, it is a convenient companion to the printed text, and for the general listener it is a way to approach a book that has shaped debates about duty and freedom for more than two centuries. The book moves from the principles of practical reason to the question of what a free being must be able to hope for. Listening in parts allows the listener to digest each argument before moving on, and the reading, though shared, keeps a steady, serious tone suited to the subject.
Public domain
Immanuel Kant died in 1804: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text