Abstract

In his book Philosophy of Right Hegel has criticized Kant´s moral philosophy negatively, labeling it as an “empty formalism”. As a matter of fact, Kantian concepts such as good will, categorical imperative and duty are rejected by Hegel because he considers them formal, empty and unilateral. In spite of this, by means of a scrutiny of Hegel’s argument it can be thought that such a criticism is only based upon Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Moral. Therefore, Hegel has a partial interpretation of Kant’s moral philosophy. To show this, I will first present the three concepts at issue, then I will expose Hegel’s critic to these concepts, and finally I will show some other elements in Kantian moral philosophy that allow us to reconsider Hegel’s critic. This is done in order to show that Kant’s moral philosophy is neither empty nor unilateral, despite being formal, like Hegel’s thought.