Book excerpt: Essays on Kant contains a collection of seventeen essays written by Henry E. Allison, one of the world's leading scholars on Kant. Although these essays cover virtually the full spectrum of Allison's work on Kant, most of them revolve around three basic themes: the nature of transcendental idealism and its relation to other aspects of Kant's thought; freedom of the will; and the concept of the purposiveness of nature. The first two themes are intended asclarifications, elaborations, and further developments of Allison's previous work on Kant, while the essays on the third theme demonstrate the central place of Kant's 'critical' philosophy in his thought.Allison places Kant's views in their historical context and explores their contemporary relevance to present day philosophers.