Kant on Menschenliebe as a Moral Predisposition of the Mind
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Dieter Schönecker
Abstract
I will first offer a brief interpretation of Kant’s theory of “Aesthetic preconcepts of the mind’s receptivity to concepts of duty as such” (section XII of the “Introduction to the Doctrine of Virtue”). These moral predispositions (moral feeling, conscience, love of human beings, and self-respect), I argue, lie at the ground of morality inasmuch as they are the subjective conditions for being affected by concepts of duty to become aware of the necessitation that lies in the concept of duty and, hence, to be able to think of a duty and thus to be obligated at all. I shall then argue that the “love of human beings” as one of those four moral predispositions must be identified with “love that is delight (amor complacentiae); this Menschenliebe is not to be confused with “benevolence (amor benevolentiae)” nor is it the “dexterity of the inclination to beneficence in general”.
Abstract
I will first offer a brief interpretation of Kant’s theory of “Aesthetic preconcepts of the mind’s receptivity to concepts of duty as such” (section XII of the “Introduction to the Doctrine of Virtue”). These moral predispositions (moral feeling, conscience, love of human beings, and self-respect), I argue, lie at the ground of morality inasmuch as they are the subjective conditions for being affected by concepts of duty to become aware of the necessitation that lies in the concept of duty and, hence, to be able to think of a duty and thus to be obligated at all. I shall then argue that the “love of human beings” as one of those four moral predispositions must be identified with “love that is delight (amor complacentiae); this Menschenliebe is not to be confused with “benevolence (amor benevolentiae)” nor is it the “dexterity of the inclination to beneficence in general”.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- Abbreviations VII
- Introduction 1
- What’s So Special About Legalized Sex? (Or, How Can Two Wrongs Make a Right?) 17
- Animal Desire and Rational Nature: Kant’s Argument for Marriage and the Problem of ‘Unnatural’ Sex 35
- How to Have Good Kantian Sex 63
- Kant and Austen on Free Love 85
- Kant on Menschenliebe as a Moral Predisposition of the Mind 107
- From Self-Preservation to Cosmopolitan Friendship: Kant and the Conceptual Structure of Love 127
- Kant on Friendship and Misanthropy 149
- Friendship as a Scaffolding Duty to the Highest Good 165
- Index of Persons 187
- Index of Subjects 189
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- Abbreviations VII
- Introduction 1
- What’s So Special About Legalized Sex? (Or, How Can Two Wrongs Make a Right?) 17
- Animal Desire and Rational Nature: Kant’s Argument for Marriage and the Problem of ‘Unnatural’ Sex 35
- How to Have Good Kantian Sex 63
- Kant and Austen on Free Love 85
- Kant on Menschenliebe as a Moral Predisposition of the Mind 107
- From Self-Preservation to Cosmopolitan Friendship: Kant and the Conceptual Structure of Love 127
- Kant on Friendship and Misanthropy 149
- Friendship as a Scaffolding Duty to the Highest Good 165
- Index of Persons 187
- Index of Subjects 189
