Kant on the Difference between Right and Ethics: Are We Capable of Acting (Solely) from Duty?
Abstract
In the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant distinguishes between two types of moral legislation; he calls one juridical and the other ethical legislation. Due to this distinction, the late writing is divided into right and ethics. In this paper, I argue that one of the criteria by which the Metaphysics of Moralsprimarily distinguishes these two legislations, and hence right and ethics, is questionable. The respective criterion concerns the moral incentive; according to the late writing, ethical legislation demands one to act from respect for the law, whereas juridical legislation instead allows one to act by virtue of any empirical incentive. While some commentators consider Kant’s conception of juridical legislation to be in contradiction with the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Moralsand the Critique of Practical Reason, I argue that it is his conception of ethical legislation that is problematic: it is this type of legislation that contradicts the Groundworkand the second Critique.
Abstract
In the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant distinguishes between two types of moral legislation; he calls one juridical and the other ethical legislation. Due to this distinction, the late writing is divided into right and ethics. In this paper, I argue that one of the criteria by which the Metaphysics of Moralsprimarily distinguishes these two legislations, and hence right and ethics, is questionable. The respective criterion concerns the moral incentive; according to the late writing, ethical legislation demands one to act from respect for the law, whereas juridical legislation instead allows one to act by virtue of any empirical incentive. While some commentators consider Kant’s conception of juridical legislation to be in contradiction with the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Moralsand the Critique of Practical Reason, I argue that it is his conception of ethical legislation that is problematic: it is this type of legislation that contradicts the Groundworkand the second Critique.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface 5
- Contents IX
- Abbreviations of Kant’s Works 11
-
Section I: Feelings and Action:Moral and Political Perspectives
- Kant on the Difference between Right and Ethics: Are We Capable of Acting (Solely) from Duty? 3
- Courage vs. Laziness: The Kantian Perspective between Education and Politics 19
- Kant’s Concept of Unsocial Sociability 33
-
Section II: Feelings and Judgements:Scientific and Aesthetical Approaches
- Kant’s Concept of Intensive Magnitude: Anticipating Scientific Experience 49
- Kant’s Hypotyposis as Rhetorical and Poetical Presentation 61
- The Aesthetic Representation of the Supersensible: Reassessing the Space of the Sublime 77
- On the Conceptual Restriction of Aesthetic Judgments 97
- The Heroic, the Pathic, the Barbaric: Kant’s Critique of Judgment and the Sight of War 111
-
Section III: Feelings and Environment Today:From a Kantian Perspective
- Kant and Environmental Ethics, Starting from the Doctrine of Virtue 135
- Shared Commitments and Ethical Values in the UN Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development Goals: A Kantian Approach towards a Collectively Desirable State of the World 151
- Climate Change and Natural Beauty: Kant’s Aesthetic Moderate Ecocentrism 175
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Section IV: Feelings and Kant’s Heritage
- “Das Gefühl ist factisch das erste ursprüngliche”: Remarks on the Role of Feeling in Fichte’s Wissenschaftslehre Nova Methodo 195
- The Problem of the Aesthetic Idea in Kant and Hegel: The Relationship between Beauty and Morality 207
- The Regulatory Use of the Ideas of Reason in Kant and Husserl 221
- Feeling and System: The Developments of Kant’s Concept of the Feeling of Pleasure and Displeasure in Hermann Cohen’s Aesthetics 235
- Index of persons
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface 5
- Contents IX
- Abbreviations of Kant’s Works 11
-
Section I: Feelings and Action:Moral and Political Perspectives
- Kant on the Difference between Right and Ethics: Are We Capable of Acting (Solely) from Duty? 3
- Courage vs. Laziness: The Kantian Perspective between Education and Politics 19
- Kant’s Concept of Unsocial Sociability 33
-
Section II: Feelings and Judgements:Scientific and Aesthetical Approaches
- Kant’s Concept of Intensive Magnitude: Anticipating Scientific Experience 49
- Kant’s Hypotyposis as Rhetorical and Poetical Presentation 61
- The Aesthetic Representation of the Supersensible: Reassessing the Space of the Sublime 77
- On the Conceptual Restriction of Aesthetic Judgments 97
- The Heroic, the Pathic, the Barbaric: Kant’s Critique of Judgment and the Sight of War 111
-
Section III: Feelings and Environment Today:From a Kantian Perspective
- Kant and Environmental Ethics, Starting from the Doctrine of Virtue 135
- Shared Commitments and Ethical Values in the UN Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development Goals: A Kantian Approach towards a Collectively Desirable State of the World 151
- Climate Change and Natural Beauty: Kant’s Aesthetic Moderate Ecocentrism 175
-
Section IV: Feelings and Kant’s Heritage
- “Das Gefühl ist factisch das erste ursprüngliche”: Remarks on the Role of Feeling in Fichte’s Wissenschaftslehre Nova Methodo 195
- The Problem of the Aesthetic Idea in Kant and Hegel: The Relationship between Beauty and Morality 207
- The Regulatory Use of the Ideas of Reason in Kant and Husserl 221
- Feeling and System: The Developments of Kant’s Concept of the Feeling of Pleasure and Displeasure in Hermann Cohen’s Aesthetics 235
- Index of persons
