Kant's Metaphysics of Morals

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer offers a full account of Kant's metaphysics of morals and also spells out its wider ramifications. The writer shows how the metaphysics of morals leads on naturally from the critique of pure reason. The writer maintains that there is no resolution to the metaphysics of understanding, unless it is seen as a prelude to activity, and therefore it brings in the dimension of morality. The same conclusion is arrived at by considering the consequences of free will. Both lead to the concept of duty, that which lies beyond all contingent ends, and which embodies freedom, virtue and pure reason. The writer then goes on to consider the parallels to Socrates' message of "Know thyself!" The writer also shows how the Kantian antinomy is transformed into the Hegelian dialectic. But Hegel misunderstands both Kant and Socrates, and turns the inner message of the soul into the outwardly defined message of the historical dialectic. The essay ultimately aims to restore the profundity of Kant's philosophy.

From the Paper:

"Thereby a link is pre-established between pure metaphysics and the metaphysics of morality. Metaphysics is not possible, in the sense that we cannot understand pure reason with any degree of finality. But clarity in metaphysical thinking is not only possible, but is indeed a binding obligation. In other world, pure reason leads us to morality. The morality cannot stop with thinking, but must carry on into action. The next logical step, therefore, is to put the metaphysics of morals on a foundation, just as has been done with pure metaphysics. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Freidrich. Lectures on the History of Philosophy. Translated by E. S. Haldane, F. H. Simson. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995.
• Kant, Immanuel. Critique of Pure Reason. Translated by Werner S. Pluhar. Boston: Hackett Publishing, 1999.
• Kant, Immanuel. Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals. Translated by Thomas Kingsmill Abbott. Toronto: Broadview Press, 2005.
• Kant, Immanuel. Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics. Translated by James W. Ellington. Boston: Hackett Publishing, 2001.
• Plato. Meno. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, 2004.

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