An Introduction

Abstract

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses a topic that has become increasingly relevant in recent years, namely Kant's attitude toward race and gender issues. It provides a brief description of Kant's view on sexual and racial hierarchies and of the way they intersect. The book refers to Kant's concept of hope in order to build a possible argument. The book picks up a moral question that, after having been neglected for quite some time, has again become an important focus of the philosophical debate, namely lying. It claims that “sustainable development is a true and necessary end of humanity” and that Kant's ethical theory allows reaching the level of universality and objectivity that moral reflections on this topic should reach in order to guide our practice.