Vulnerabilities in Kantian Constructivism: Why they Matter for Objective Normativity
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Susana Cadilha
und
Francisco Lisboa
Abstract
In section 1 we present moral constructivism as a metaphysical project which grounds moral norms in the attitude of valuing by rational agents. In section 2 we establish that Kantian Constructivism – opposed to Humean Constructivism – seeks objective and universal moral norms through a process of rational construction and ratification of norms that does not draw on any kind of subjective attitude of valuing. In section 3 we explore whether Kant is a moral constructivist or moral realist, arguing that he might be read as a proto-moral constructivist whose formulas impose standards of correctness upon our moral judgments, from which we formulate moral norms as necessary facts of reason. In section 4 we argue that: 1) vulnerabilities have moral relevance which adds merit to the project of finding objective moral norms, and 2) the inclusion of vulnerabilities as empirical contingencies is compatible with Kantian Constructivism. We do so by considering vulnerabilities a constitutive aspect of finite rational agents which must, therefore, be implied and considered in the process of moral construction.
Acknowledgments:
This research work is supported by national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., in the context of the celebration of the program contract foreseen in the numbers 4, 5 and 6 of article 23.º of D.L. no. 57/2016 of 29 August, as amended by Law no. 57/2017 of 19 July.
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© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Title pages
- Table of Contents
- Articles
- Vulnerabilities in Kantian Constructivism: Why they Matter for Objective Normativity
- Three Rival Versions of Kantian Constructivism
- Kantian Constructivism and Kantian Constitutivism: Some Reflections
- Re-constructing Kant: Kant’s Teleological Moral Realism
- Kantian Constructivism and the Sources of Normativity
- Topics of the Kant Yearbook 2023, 2024 and 2025
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Title pages
- Table of Contents
- Articles
- Vulnerabilities in Kantian Constructivism: Why they Matter for Objective Normativity
- Three Rival Versions of Kantian Constructivism
- Kantian Constructivism and Kantian Constitutivism: Some Reflections
- Re-constructing Kant: Kant’s Teleological Moral Realism
- Kantian Constructivism and the Sources of Normativity
- Topics of the Kant Yearbook 2023, 2024 and 2025
