Revisiting Kant's Universal Law and Humanity Formulas PDF
Preview Revisiting Kant's Universal Law and Humanity Formulas
Sven Nyholm Revisiting Kant’s Universal Law and Humanity Formulas Ideen & Argumente Edited by Wilfried Hinsch and Lutz Wingert Sven Nyholm Revisiting Kantʼs Universal Law and Humanity Formulas ISBN 978-3-11-040116-5 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-040132-5 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-040140-0 ISSN 1862-1147 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2015 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Printing and binding: Hubert & Co. GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen Cover layout: +malsy, Willich Cover illustration: Martin Zech, Bremen ♾ Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com For Katharina Acknowledgements In beginning to prepare the material for the chapters that follow, I was greatly helped by a number of highly enjoyable and memorable conversations about Kant’s ethics that I had together with Sarah Buss in Zürich in June of 2011. IamalsoverymuchindebtedtoElizabethAnderson,whoprovidedmewithex- tensive comments on an earlier version of this book. Additionally, I have bene- fited from useful feedback from Peter Railton, Don Regan, Rich Thomason,Jim Joyce, Eric Lormand, Ingmar Persson, Christian Munthe, and an audience at theUniversityofGothenburg.IthanktheRackhamGraduateSchool,attheUni- versityofMichigan,forfinancialsupportduringthetimethatIwrotethedisser- tationonwhichthisbookisbased.IthanktheMichiganSocietyofFellowsand Proquest for recognizing that dissertation with the 2013 Proquest Distinguished DissertationAward,whichitwasagreathonorformetoreceive.Inpreparingthe present version of this book for publication, I have been greatly helped by two anonymous reviewers for de Gruyter, Wilfried Hinsch, Sebastian Raedler, and myverygoodfriendSteveCampbell.Lastbutnotleast,andonamorepersonal note,IthankmybelovedwifeKatharina,towhomIdedicatethisbook.Iamalso verygrateful for the support from our families in Sweden and Germany. Contents List of Abbreviations XI Introduction: The Human Nature Formula 1 . Why Yet Another Book on How to Interpret Kant’s Ethical Theory? 1 . Korsgaard on Self-Constitution in the Ethics of Plato and Kant 5 . How Kant’s Constitutivism (as I Understand It) Differs from Korsgaard’s 8 . The Role of Kant’s Constitutivism in the Groundwork (and the Human Nature Formula) 13 . The Kantian View of Categorical Imperatives of Practical Reason 19 . On the Coming Chapters 22 Reinterpreting the Universal Law Formula 25 . Introduction 25 . On The Standard Readings 26 . Seven Objections to the Universal Law Formula 32 . Two Radically Different Conclusions We Can Draw 37 . Eight Steps Towards a New Understanding of the Universal Law Formula 41 . Eight Steps Towards a New Reading, Continued 49 . How to Understand the Universal Law Formula (and Its Relation to the Humanity Formula) 55 . Why the Seven Objections Discussed Above All Misfire 58 . Why the Seven Objections All Misfire, Continued 62 . Looking Ahead 68 Kant’s Argument for the Humanity Formula 70 . Introduction 70 . Kant’s Argument for the Humanity Formula in His Own Words 73 . The Reconstructions of Korsgaard, Wood, and other Members of the American School: Preliminaries 78 . The Reconstructions of Korsgaard, Wood, and other Members of the American School, Continued 81 . Three Objections to the Just-Reviewed Reconstructions of Kant’s Reasoning 89 X Contents . On the Absolute Value of a Good Will and the Worthiness to Be Happy 97 . How to Understand Kant’s Argument for the Humanity Formula 103 . Is Our Reconstruction Uncharitable to Kant? 109 Permissibility, Virtue, and the Highest Good 119 . Some Distinctions 119 . Scanlon and Parfit’s Objections to the Humanity Formula as a Test for Permissibility 125 . Why Scanlon and Parfit’s Objections Fail 130 . A Kantian Moral Saint? 135 . Human Flourishing and the Highest Good 144 . Human Flourishing and the Highest Good, Continued 152 . Concluding Remarks 156 Bibliography 159 Index 165
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