The Preface approaches the task of grounding the novel philosophical discipline of a ‘metaphysics of morals’ in three consecutive steps. First, taking his cue from the tripartite ancient division of philosophy into physics, ethics and logic, Kant systematically maps out the various philosophical disciplines and then directs our attention to the part of pure philosophy called ‘metaphysics’. He secondly restricts his focus to pure moral philosophy, i.e. a metaphysics of morals as opposed to the more familiar metaphysics of nature, and emphasises its supreme importance and practical relevance. Thirdly and finally, Kant turns to the specific task and method of the present project: laying the foundations of a metaphysics of morals. He declares that he intends to pursue the project of such a metaphysics at a later date.