"Contrary to widespread belief, Kant's ethics is not a formalist or purist program that regards empirical studies of human nature as unimportant for moral principles. Rather, Kant explicitly and repeatedly states that ethics properly consists of two parts: a pure, non-empirical part, in which the grounding a priori principles of the theory are to be located; and an impure, empirical part, which determines how best to apply pure principles to the human situation.".

"Kant's Impure Ethics is the first book-length study to examine in detail and critically assess this second part of Kant's ethics.".

"This vital examination of Kant's ethical theory will be of interest not only to students and scholars of Kant, but to ethical theorists, applied ethicists who wish to understand the historical background of their discipline, and social scientists concerned with the multiple relationships and tensions between normative ethics and empirical studies of human nature."--BOOK JACKET.