Friendship as a Scaffolding Duty to the Highest Good
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Kiran Bhardwaj
Abstract
This essay begins with a brief introduction to what Kant says about the ideal of friendship, as well as his other categories of friendship. Then it examines an account of Kantian friendship that argues that we must engage in moral friendships, as they are a necessary means to develop virtue. This essay will suggest that that account needs two extensions. First, moral friendship is in the service of both of our imperfect duties: of self-perfection, and also of helping others. Second, the best human friendships can help us see, in microcosm, what a kingdom of ends where we bring about our own perfection and the happiness of others could be like. As such, moral friendship, which may actually be achieved ‘here and there’, helps to secure our hopes for what is possible as a result of our moral activity.
Abstract
This essay begins with a brief introduction to what Kant says about the ideal of friendship, as well as his other categories of friendship. Then it examines an account of Kantian friendship that argues that we must engage in moral friendships, as they are a necessary means to develop virtue. This essay will suggest that that account needs two extensions. First, moral friendship is in the service of both of our imperfect duties: of self-perfection, and also of helping others. Second, the best human friendships can help us see, in microcosm, what a kingdom of ends where we bring about our own perfection and the happiness of others could be like. As such, moral friendship, which may actually be achieved ‘here and there’, helps to secure our hopes for what is possible as a result of our moral activity.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- 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
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- 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
