the value of humanity in kants moral theory jul 2006

[...]... an end in itself Part II of the book goes beyond arguing for a particular reading of humanity in the humanity formulation There are two main goals of the second half of the book The first is to fit the humanity formulation (particularly the good will reading of the humanity formulation) into a fuller picture of Kant’s overall moral theory The second is to show that the humanity formulation, on the good... any of the standard readings do I explain these advantages of the good will reading in Chapter 3 Besides making Kant’s overall ethical theory more consistent, the good will reading is also supported by a narrower examination of the texts in which Kant specifically discusses the ideas of humanity and of treating something as an end in itself Many of the particular passages that have been offered in support... the condition of the other’ (R 36) In order for an agent’s will to be good, she must have a commitment to act morally even when acting morally requires her to forgo the satisfaction of inclinations (she must make the moral law the supreme condition of the satisfaction’ of her inclinations) If, on the other hand, someone took his inclinations ‘as in themselves wholly adequate to the determination of. .. another as ends in themselves, and would give at least some weight to the ends of the other members Taking into account these facts about the members of the kingdom of ends, plus the sorts of ends that we can predict they would have, will allow us to reach conclusions about some of the rules upon which the members of the kingdom of ends would agree These specific rules, which are derived by using the. .. propensity of the human being to evil’.9 This propensity can take the form of giving priority to the principle of self-love, rather than moral law ‘Depravity’ is complete subjugation of morality to the principle of self-love, ignoring the commands of the Categorical Imperative ‘Impurity’ is recognizing and acting on the commands of morality sometimes, but only because doing so is consistent with the principle... an examination of Kant’s idea of a kingdom of ends One way to interpret the kingdom of ends formulation of the Categorical Imperative is that it provides a way to move from the general principle that humanity must be treated as an end in itself to more specific duties regarding how to act in the world, given the state of the world and given human nature.12 In the hypothetical kingdom of ends, the members... this means The key ideas in the principle humanity, and treating something as an end in itself—require further explanation In the second half of this book, I will examine the specific requirements entailed as part of treating someone as an end in herself Before turning to that, I will examine the other basic question about the humanity formulation, namely what the humanity is that Kant thinks we must... what has highest value, and so is an end in itself And besides fitting with Kant’s claims about value, the good will reading of the humanity formulation does a better job than other readings of explaining why our duty to aid others in pursuing their ends does not include their immoral ends The good will reading also allows stronger connections between the different formulations of the Categorical Imperative... that the good will reading of the humanity formulation is not only accurate as an interpretation of Kant, but is also a plausible and promising moral principle in its own right The first chapters of Part II, Chapters 6 and 7, focus mainly on issues of exegesis of Kant’s moral theory Chapter 6 offers a reconstruction of Kant’s argument for the humanity formulation as a fundamental principle of morality,... about the Categorical Imperative’s demand that we treat humanity as an end in itself In Part I of the book, I will argue for a non-standard reading of humanity in the humanity formulation I will argue that my reading renders the humanity formulation more consistent with the main ideas of Kant’s ethics and with the particular passages in which Kant discusses humanity as an end in itself In Part II of the . the humanity formulation. There are two main goals of the second half of the book. The first is to fit the humanity formulation (particularly the good will reading of the humanity formulation) into. narrower examination of the texts in which Kant specifically discusses the ideas of humanity and of treating something as an end in itself. Many of the particular passages that have been offered in support. texts in which he discusses humanity as an end in itself. One way in which the good will reading of humanity fares better than minimal readings is in making Kant’s basic claims about value in