This site is all about Immanuel Kant's Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten, commonly translated into English as something like Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals. Here you'll find multiple editions of the Grundlegung, in multiple formats, as well as indexes and glossaries, and various other tools to help you read, study, and reflect on Kant's most influential work in moral philosophy. Although the site is intended primarily for students, there's something here for just about anyone interested in the Grundlegung. In particular,
- for beginning students, there's a new introductory translation in English (also available as a PDF, an ebook (Epub or Mobi = Kindle format), or a text file; there is also a Student Supplement which contains a summary, analysis, and commentary on each paragraph of Kant's work;
- for more advanced students, the site also contains a new scholarly translation, also in English; advanced students, too, may benefit from the Student Supplement;
- for those just getting started with the original German text, there's a version with English tooltips and a synchronized dual-language version;
- versions of Kant's German text are also here for scholars and others who want to read the work untranslated; scholars may also find the comparison and search capabilities of the site and of the various versions (the Android app and the HTML collection version being especially strong in these areas) useful.
- for those who want to copy, modify, and redistribute any of the files on this site, you are free to do so according to the terms of the governing Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.
You can quickly get an idea of the kind of resources you'll find here by visiting the series of index pages with screenshots.
There have been many editions of the Grundlegung since its first publication in 1785. Besides the first edition, the most important of these are the second edition, published in 1786, and the Prussian Academy Edition of 1903. Versions of all three of these are available here, plus an edited 1786 second edition with the (mostly) typical emendations. To help you get further acquainted with the site, here's a brief rundown of what you'll find by following the navigation links on the left.
- About - the purpose of the site; a brief biography of Kant; the importance of the Grundlegung;
- 1785 - original German text versions of the 1785 first edition
- 1786 - original German text versions of the 1786 second edition
- 1786 emended - versions of a corrected 1786 second edition; English translations
- 1903 - original German text versions of the 1903 Prussian Academy edition
- Collections - multiple editions and translations collected in one package
- Derivative Works - external links to other identically-licensed material based on the materials available at this site
- Supplements - summaries of paragraphs; student supplement with analysis and commentary
- Compare - a tool for comparing the different editions; prepared comparisons
- Search - a tool for searching the texts; prepared searches
- Glossaries - comprehensive dual-language glossaries
- Indexes - complete German indexes
- Help - hints for reading the original German; tips on using the files;
- FAQ - frequently asked questions
- Resources - bibliographies; links to other sites; TEI-conformant XML data files
- Sitemap - simple hyperlinked listing of many of the files on the site
- Contact - how to send a message to the person maintaining the site
- Credits - persons and things used in creating the site