Understanding Moral Obligation Kant, Hegel, Kierkegaard

294 Pages·2.621 MB·English

by  Stern, Robert

Understanding Moral obligation

in many histories of modern ethics, Kant is supposed to have ushered in
an anti-realist or constructivist turn by holding that unless we ourselves
‘author’ or lay down moral norms and values for ourselves, our auton-
omy as agents will be threatened. in this book, robert stern challenges
the cogency of this ‘argument from autonomy’, and claims that Kant
never subscribed to it. rather, it is not value realism but the apparent
obligatoriness of morality that really poses a challenge to our autonomy:
how can this be accounted for without taking away our freedom? the
debate the book focuses on therefore concerns whether this obligato-
riness should be located in ourselves (Kant), in others (Hegel) or in
god (Kierkegaard). stern traces the historical dialectic that drove the
development of these respective theories, and clearly and sympathetic-
ally considers their merits and disadvantages; he concludes by arguing
that the choice between them remains open.
robert stern is Professor of Philosophy at the University of
sheffield. He is the author of Hegel, Kant and the Structure of the Object
(1990), Transcendental Arguments and Scepticism: Answering the Question
of Justification (2000), Hegel and the ‘Phenomenology of Spirit’ (2002), and
Hegelian Metaphysics (2009). He is editor of G.W.F. Hegel: Critical Assessments
(1993) and Transcendental Arguments: Problems and Prospects (1999).
Modern eUroPean PHilosoPHy
General Editor
Wayne Martin, University of Essex
Advisory Board
sebastian gardner, University College, London
beatriCe Han-Pile, University of Essex
Hans slUga, University of California, Berkeley
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Understanding Mor al

obligation
Kant, Hegel, Kierkegaard
robert stern
University of Sheffield
cambridge university press
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Cambridge University Press
the edinburgh building, Cambridge cb2 8ru, UK
Published in the United states of america by Cambridge University Press, new york
www.cambridge.org
information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107012073
© robert stern 2012
this publication is in copyright. subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2012
Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
stern, robert, 1962–
Understanding moral obligation : Kant, Hegel, Kierkegaard / robert stern.
p. cm. – (Modern european philosophy)
includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-1-107-01207-3
1. duty. 2. responsibility. 3. Kant, immanuel, 1724–1804.
4. Hegel, georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770–1831.
5. Kierkegaard, søren, 1813–1855. i. title.
bj1451.s69 2012
170.92′2–dc23
2011039382
isbn 978-1-107-01207-3 Hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or
accuracy of Urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in
this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is,
or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Ode to Duty
William Wordsworth
stern daughter of the Voice of god!
o duty! if that name thou love,
Who art a light to guide, a rod
to check the erring, and reprove;
thou, who art victory and law
When empty terrors overawe;
From vain temptations dost set free;
and calm’st the weary strife of frail humanity!
Kind Of An Ode To Duty
ogden nash
o duty,
Why hast thou not the visage of a sweetie or a cutie?
Why displayest thou the countenance of the kind of conscien-
tious organizing spinster
that the minute you see her you are aginster?
Why glitter thy spectacles so ominously?
Why art thou clad so abominously?
Why are thou so different from Venus
and why do thou and i have so few interests mutually
in common between us?
Why art thou fifty per cent martyr
and fifty-one per cent tartar?

Contents

Acknowledgements page ix
List of references and abbreviations xi
introduction 1
Part i Kant 5
1 Kant, moral realism, and the argument from autonomy 7
2 the argument from autonomy and the problem of 41
moral obligation
3 Kant’s solution to the problem of moral obligation 68
Part ii Hegel 101
4 Hegel’s critique of Kant (via schiller) 103
5 Hegel’s solution to the problem of moral obligation 148
Part iii Kierkegaard 171
6 Kierkegaard’s critique of Hegel 173
7 Kierkegaard’s solution to the problem of moral obligation 204
Conclusion: From Kant to Kierkegaard – and back again? 220
Bibliography 255
Index 273
vii