Allen W. Wood

Kant was a rational theologian. He did not pretend to be a biblical or revealed theologian.

— Allen W. Wood

Descartes recommended that we distrust the senses and rely on the ... use of our intellect.

— Allen W. Wood

Empiricist philosophy always tends to be anti-philosophy (and is often proud of it).

— Allen W. Wood

In general, those who defend capitalism are basically out of touch with reality.

— Allen W. Wood

Teaching and writing about philosophy is about the only thing I've ever been really good at.

— Allen W. Wood

Hegel's theory of recognition is basically derived from Fichte, who is its real author.

— Allen W. Wood

Freedom is a permanent problem for us, both unavoidable and insoluble.

— Allen W. Wood

People are often most proud of precisely those things of which they should most be ashamed.

— Allen W. Wood

No theory about our bodies as mere objects of observation and calculation (as distinct from partners in communicative interaction, assumed to be…

— Allen W. Wood

If the problem of free will is to see how freedom fits into the order of nature, then Kant's basic view about…

— Allen W. Wood

Reason necessarily expresses itself through emotions and emotions are healthy only insofar as they are expressions of reason.

— Allen W. Wood

Kant thinks of judgment as a special faculty or talent of the mind, not reducible to discursive reasoning but cultivated through experience…

— Allen W. Wood

Fichte thinks that the mutual recognition of one another as free beings belongs among the transcendental conditions of self-consciousness itself.

— Allen W. Wood

It seems to me self-evident that it is worthwhile to understand the best thoughts of the past, to appropriate them, to criticize…

— Allen W. Wood

We can make mistakes about what we ought to do, and these are not the same as making bad decisions about what…

— Allen W. Wood

It is probably not a good idea to ask someone to expound a position they do not accept and do not feel…

— Allen W. Wood

I think Fichte did take it further than Kant by arguing that we can regard the moral law as objectively valid only…

— Allen W. Wood

Kant is not saying - about freedom or any other subject - anything of the form: "Not-p but we must assume that…

— Allen W. Wood

Not only in order to act morally, but even to formulate theoretical questions, devise experiments, choose which ones to perform and what…

— Allen W. Wood

Those who see Smith as a defender of capitalism - as it existed in Marx's day, or as it exists today -…

— Allen W. Wood

For the utilitarian, there is a fact of the matter about the good (the general happiness, or whatever conception of the good…

— Allen W. Wood

I don't think Kant's theory looks bad to people except insofar as they have misunderstood it (for instance, as heartless and ironheaded,…

— Allen W. Wood

We cannot predict the effects of our actions, especially our collective actions over generations or centuries, to use instrumental reasoning toward these…

— Allen W. Wood

In fact people do not know enough about themselves and what is good for them to form a sufficiently definite conception of…

— Allen W. Wood

In fact, if you read what Kant has to say about feeling, desire and emotion, you see that he is not at…

— Allen W. Wood

It is rational to choose the right means to your ends to develop very elegant abstract formal theories of rational choice, and…

— Allen W. Wood

From the beginning, there has been a tension in the reception of the Kantian idea of autonomy. If you emphasize the 'nomos'…

— Allen W. Wood

Kant's treatments of rational theology and metaphysics were aimed primarily at theoretical questions. His attitude toward the pseudo-sciences of "special metaphysics" in…

— Allen W. Wood

There is no author or legislator of the moral law. It is simply valid in itself in the nature or essence of…

— Allen W. Wood

It is actually a nice question how far Descartes himself endorses the monological and metaphysically dualistic theory of mind associated with his…

— Allen W. Wood

It has taken me a long time to realize where I most disagree with Marx. His assessment of capitalism is far too…

— Allen W. Wood

Kant does not think that along with choice of an action we also choose in each case the motive from which we…

— Allen W. Wood

“What is most remarkable about the philosophy of Kant, in my opinion, is the wide range of topics on which his thoughts…

— Allen W. Wood

“In seeing the thinkers in this tradition as embodying a certain fundamental viewpoint, I am far from denying that there is disagreement between…

— Allen W. Wood

“Western capitalist society, and especially my own American society, is one characterized by great inequalities. In any such society, by the nature…

— Allen W. Wood

“Especially to be avoided is approaching Kant's life in a spirit of hero worship or hagiography -- as though our interest in…

— Allen W. Wood

Virtues consist not only of acting in certain ways, but in ways of caring and feeling.

— Allen W. Wood

Kant thinks we can show that there is no contradiction in supposing we are free.

— Allen W. Wood

Some empirical feelings, such as sympathy, are indispensable parts of certain moral virtues.

— Allen W. Wood

Clearly no working class movement ever came about that was able to do what Marx was hoping for.

— Allen W. Wood