Rethinking Kant on Duty
Review of Metaphysics 74 (296):497-526 (2021)
Abstract
According to a common caricature of Kant’s ethics, it is synonymous with the Categorical Imperative (CI) and with the sublime and clarion call of duty. But in this paper, I argue that the conjunction of Kant’s concept of duty and his idea of morality as a system of imperatives is unsustainable on the grounds that it commits him to the following two theses: (I) If an agent has a duty to D, then she must be constrained to D, and (II) the Supreme Law of Morality always manifests in the form of duty for humans. I begin by examining (and rejecting) various attempts to defend these two theses. I then explore how this bears on various central aspects of Kant's thought including “ought implies can” (OIC), “ought implies able not to” (OIAN), his system of duties, and the nature of respect.Author's Profile
DOI
10.1353/rvm.2021.0001
My notes
Similar books and articles
Kant, Ought Implies Can, the Principle of Alternate Possibilities, and Happiness.Samuel Kahn - 2018 - Lexington Books.
Kant on the Duty of Virtue and Oneself's End.Yung-Chung Lin - 2009 - Philosophy and Culture 36 (2):93-117.
Biomedical Enhancement and the Kantian Duty to Cultivate Our Talents.Colin Hickey - 2017 - Journal of Value Inquiry 51 (1):165-185.
Respect in Kant's Tugendlehre and its place in conremporary ethics.Darlei Dall'Agnol - 2017 - [email protected] - An International Journal for Moral Philosophy 16 (3):437-458.
The Religious Significance of Kant’s Ethics.Jacqueline Mariña - 2001 - American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 75 (2):179-200.
Kant and the duty to promote one’s own happiness.Samuel Kahn - 2022 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 65 (3):1-12.
Dependence on Wrongdoing in the Consumption of Meat: A Kantian Analysis.Carl Hammer - 2014 - Journal of Applied Philosophy 31 (2):169-187.
A Life without Affects and Passions: Kant on the Duty of Apathy.Paul Formosa - 2011 - Parrhesia 13:96-111.
Kantian Ethics Almost Without Apology.Robert N. Johnson - 1997 - Philosophical Review 106 (4):594-595.
For Community's Sake: A (Self-Respecting) Kantian Account of Forgiveness.Kate A. Moran - forthcoming - Proceedings of the XI International Kant-Kongress.
Understanding Kant’s Duty of Respect as a Duty of Virtue.Melissa Seymour Fahmy - 2013 - Journal of Moral Philosophy 10 (6):723-740.
Analytics
Added to PP
2021-01-27
Downloads
43 (#273,862)
6 months
24 (#49,042)
2021-01-27
Downloads
43 (#273,862)
6 months
24 (#49,042)
Historical graph of downloads
Author's Profile
Citations of this work
The Apple of Kant's Ethics: i‐Maxims as the Locus of Assessment.Samuel Kahn - 2022 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 1.