Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals

by Immanuel Kant translated by Thomas Kingsmill Abbott

"The Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals or Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (German: Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten, 1785), Immanuel Kant's first contribution to moral philosophy, argues for an a priori basis for morality. Where the Critique of Pure Reason laid out Kant's metaphysical and epistemological ideas, this relatively short, primarily meta-ethical, work was intended to outline and define the concepts and arguments shaping his future work The Metaphysics of Morals. However, the latter work is much less read than the Groundwork."