Kantian Ethics and Utopian Thinking
Abstract
Is Kantian Ethics guilty of utopian thinking? First, potentially good and bad uses of utopian ideals are distinguished, then an apparent path is traced from Rousseau’s unworkable political ideal to Kant’s ethical ideal. Three versions of Kant’s Categorical Imperative (and their counter–parts in common moral discourse) are examined briefly for the ways that they may raise the suspicion that they manifest or encourage bad utopian thinking. In each case Kantians have available responses to counter the suspicion, but special attention is directed to the version that says “Act on the maxims of a universally law–giving member of a kingdom of ends.” Interpretations vary, but here primary focus is on one contemporary reconstruction and development of this central idea. Several objections suggest that this idea encourages bad utopian thinking are briefly addressed: that we cannot count on everyone to follow ideal rules, that even conscientious people disagree in their moral judgments, and that theories that allow exceptions to familiar moral rules create a “slippery slope” to moral chaos.
References
Boxill, Bernard (ed.) (2001). Race and Racism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Donagan, Alan (1977). The Theory of Morality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Engels, Friedrich (1878). Landmarks of Scientific Socialism: Anti–Duhring. Translated by Austin Lewis. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Company, 1907.
Herman, Barbara (1993). The Practice of Moral Judgment. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press.
Hill, Thomas (1992). Dignity and Practical Reason in Kant’s Moral Theory. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Hill, Thomas (2000). Respect, Pluralism, and Justice: Kantian Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hill, Thomas (2002). Human Welfare and Moral Worth: Kantian Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hill, Thomas (2003). Treating Criminals as Ends in Themselves. The Annual Review of Law and Ethics Band 11: 17–36.
Hill, Thomas (2006). Lindlay Lecture: The Importance of Moral Rules and Principles. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press.
Hill, Thomas (2008). Moral Construction as a Task: Sources and Limits. Social Philosophy and Policy 25 (1): 214–236.
Hill, Thomas (2016). Human Dignity and Tragic Choices. Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 89: 74–94.
Kant, Immanuel (1785). Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals. Translated by Arnuf Zweig and edited by Thomas E. Hill, Jr. and Arnulf Zweig. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Kant, Immanuel (1788). Critique of Practical Reason. Translated by Mary Gregor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Kant, Immanuel (1793–4). Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason. Translated and edited by Allen Wood and G. Di Giovanni. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Kant, Immanuel (1795). Toward Perpetual Peace. In Toward Perpetual Peace and Other Writings on Politics, Peace, and History, translated by David L. Colclasure and edited by Pauline Kleingeld. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
Kant, Immanuel (1797). On a supposed right to tell a lie from philanthropy. In Practical Philosophy, translated and edited by Mary Gregor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, pp. 605–6.
Kant, Immanuel (1797–8). The Metaphysics of Morals. Translated and edited by Mary Gregor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Marx, Karl (1844). Introduction to Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right. Deutsch–Französische Jahrbucher. Paris.
More, Thomas (1516). Utopia. Translated and edited by Paul Turner. London: Penguin Books, 2003.
O’Neill, Onora (1989). Constructions of Reason: Exploring Kant’s Practical Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Plato. The Republic. Translated by G.M.A. Grube and revised by C.D.C. Reeve. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1992.
Rawls, John (1971). A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Rawls, John (1996). Political Liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press.
Rawls, John (2001). The Law of Peoples. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Rousseau, Jean–Jacques (1755). Discourse on the Origin of Inequality. Translated by Franklin Philip. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Rousseau, Jean–Jacques (1762). The Social Contract. Translated by Maurice Cranston. London: Penguin Books, 1968.
Copyright (c) 2019 Disputatio. Philosophical Research Bulletin
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
