Published in 1785, the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals is one of the most powerful texts in the history of ethical thought. In this book, Immanuel Kant formulates and justifies a supreme principle of morality that issues universal and unconditional moral commands. These commands receive their normative force from the fact that rational agents autonomously impose the moral law upon themselves. As such, they are laws of freedom. This volume contains the first facing-page German-English edition of Kant's Groundwork. It presents an authentic edition of the German text and a carefully revised version of Mary Gregor's acclaimed English translation, as well as editorial notes and a full bilingual index. It will be the edition of choice for any student or scholar who is not content with reading this central contribution to modern moral philosophy through the veil of English translation.

‘It has taken more than two centuries, but at last we have a bilingual edition of the most important work in modern moral philosophy. On the left is the most authentic and accurate edition of Kant's original text currently available; on the right is a respectfully revised version of Mary Gregor's canonical translation of the Groundwork that makes her fine work even more precise. This is by far the best edition of the Groundwork for English-speaking students and scholars that has ever been produced.'

Paul Guyer - University of Pennsylvania

‘Anybody studying Kant's celebrated Groundwork will want to use Jens Timmermann's new facing-page edition. The constant need to refer to and fro between text and translation, with differing pagination and conventions, is over. Here we have German and English on facing pages and high reliability and fluency in the translation.'

Onora O'Neill - University of Cambridge

'Jens Timmermann’s idea and effort to provide a German-English edition of Kant’s Groundwork cannot be applauded enough. Just as those who in principle can read Latin will be grateful to have a translation at hand that will help them through the text, readers of Kant’s Groundwork will be grateful to be provided an edition that allows them to compare the original text on the left side with its translation on the right, line by line … it is to be hoped that this book finds many readers, both in introductory and advanced classes. Bilingual editions are a very important enterprise, and Timmermann deserves the highest praise for introducing such an edition for English-speaking Kant research.'

Source: Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie