Kant on Human Dignity reconsidered
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Oliver Sensen
Abstract:
The justification for Kant’s dictum to treat oneself and others never merely as a means can be read in very different ways. In this article I respond to comments made by Dieter Schönecker, Jochen Bojanowski, Heiner Klemme and Stefano Bacin on the justification I offer in my book Kant on Human Dignity. In the book I argue against the most popular reading of Kant’s justification, which tries to base the respect one owes to others on a value they possess. In contrast, my view ties Kant’s justification more closely to his theoretical philosophy, and argues that it is based on an a priori law. In my response I clarify several points I made in the book: I spell out how Kant conceives of value as a prescription of reason, why value cannot be the foundation of Kant’s moral philosophy as well as whether it needs a special end to motivate moral actions, and what Kant means by ‘end in itself.’ In this article I also enlarge upon the positive account of why one should respect others, and how Kant conceives of this requirement to be based in pure reason. Finally, I offer a modified reading of the traditional paradigm of dignity to which Kant also adheres. Unlike the account I give in the book, I do not believe any longer that in this conception dignity is always connected to a duty to oneself, and I grant that this conception has often been used as an intuitively plausible but incomplete shorthand argument for the requirement to respect others.
© De Gruyter
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Titelseiten
- Thomas Mulvany Seebohm (1934–2014)
- Abhandlungen
- Kants Revolutionen
- Die Idee des Existierenden und der Raum
- Berichte und Diskussionen
- Die Würde des Menschen – Human Dignity
- Bemerkungen zu Oliver Sensen, Kant on Human Dignity, Chapter 1
- Kant on Human Dignity
- „die vernünftige Natur existirt als Zweck an sich selbst.“
- Kant’s Idea of Human Dignity: Between Tradition and Originality
- Kant on Human Dignity reconsidered
- Buchbesprechungen
- Cora Wawrzinek: Die „wahre Republik“ und das „Bündel von Kompromissen“
- Andree Hahmann: Kritische Metaphysik der Substanz
- The Cambridge Companion to Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason
- Salomon Maimon: Essay on Transcendental Philosophy
- Ana Marta González: Culture as Mediation: Kant on Nature, Culture and Morality
- Immanuel Kant: Der einzig mögliche Beweisgrund zu einer Demonstration des Daseins Gottes.
- Michael Städtler: Kant und die Aporetik moderner Subjektivität
- Steffi Schadow: Achtung für das Gesetz. Moral und Motivation bei Kant
- Mitteilung
- Biblioteca Immanuel Kant
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Titelseiten
- Thomas Mulvany Seebohm (1934–2014)
- Abhandlungen
- Kants Revolutionen
- Die Idee des Existierenden und der Raum
- Berichte und Diskussionen
- Die Würde des Menschen – Human Dignity
- Bemerkungen zu Oliver Sensen, Kant on Human Dignity, Chapter 1
- Kant on Human Dignity
- „die vernünftige Natur existirt als Zweck an sich selbst.“
- Kant’s Idea of Human Dignity: Between Tradition and Originality
- Kant on Human Dignity reconsidered
- Buchbesprechungen
- Cora Wawrzinek: Die „wahre Republik“ und das „Bündel von Kompromissen“
- Andree Hahmann: Kritische Metaphysik der Substanz
- The Cambridge Companion to Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason
- Salomon Maimon: Essay on Transcendental Philosophy
- Ana Marta González: Culture as Mediation: Kant on Nature, Culture and Morality
- Immanuel Kant: Der einzig mögliche Beweisgrund zu einer Demonstration des Daseins Gottes.
- Michael Städtler: Kant und die Aporetik moderner Subjektivität
- Steffi Schadow: Achtung für das Gesetz. Moral und Motivation bei Kant
- Mitteilung
- Biblioteca Immanuel Kant
