Skip to main content
×
×
Home

Kant on Autonomy and the Value of Persons

  • Eric Entrican Wilson (a1)
Abstract

This essay seeks to contribute to current debates about value in Kant's ethics. Its main objective is to dislodge the widely shared intuition that his view of autonomy requires constructivism or some other alternative to moral realism. I argue the following. Kant seems to think that the value of persons is due to their very nature, not to what anyone decides is the case (however rational or pure those decisions may be). He also seems to think that when we treat persons as ends in themselves we are responding appropriately to the fact that their very nature elevates them above all other concerns. Neither of these beliefs is incompatible with his view of autonomy. So it is a mistake to think that Kant's ethics requires constructivism or any other form of anti-realism.

Copyright
References
Hide All
Anderson, Lanier (2001) ‘Synthesis, Cognitive Normativity, and the Meaning of Kant's Question, “How are Synthetic Cognitions A Priori Possible?”’. European Journal of Philosophy, 9(3), 275305.
Baxley, Anne Margaret (2003) ‘Autocracy and Autonomy’. Kant-Studien, 94(1), 123.
Butler, Joseph (1983) Five Sermons, ed. Stephen Darwall. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing.
Graham, George (forthcoming) ‘Being a Mental Disorder’. In H. Kincaid and J. Sullivan (eds), Psychiatric Classification and Natural Kinds (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press).
Guyer, Paul (2000) Kant on Freedom, Law, and Happiness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Guyer, Paul (2005) Kant's System of Nature and Freedom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Herman, Barbara (1993) The Practice of Moral Judgment. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Herman, Barbara (2007) Moral Literacy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Hill, Thomas E Jr., (1991) Autonomy and Self-Respect. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Johnson, Robert (2007) ‘Value and Autonomy in Kantian Ethics’. In Russ Shafer-Landau (ed.), Oxford Studies in Metaethics (Oxford: Oxford University Press), vol. 2, pp. 133148.
Kain, Patrick (2004) ‘Self-Legislation in Kant's Moral Philosophy’. Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie, 86(3), 257306.
Kant, Immanuel (1996a) The Metaphysics of Morals, trans. Mary Gregor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kant, Immanuel (1996b) Critique of Practical Reason, trans. Mary Gregor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kant, Immanuel (1997a) Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, trans. Mary Gregor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kant, Immanuel (1997b) Lectures on Ethics, trans. Peter Heath. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kant, Immanuel (2006) Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View, trans. Robert B. Louden Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Korsgaard, Christine (1996a) Creating the Kingdom of Ends. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Korsgaard, Christine (1996b) The Sources of Normativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Korsgaard, Christine (2008) The Constitution of Agency: Essays on Practical Reason and Moral Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Langton, Rae (2007) ‘Objective and Unconditioned Value’. Philosophical Review, 116(2), 157185.
Martin, Adrienne (2006) ‘How to Argue for the Value of Humanity’. Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 87(1), 96125.
Nagel, Thomas (1986) The View from Nowhere. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Nagel, Thomas (1997) The Last Word. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rawls, John (1980) ‘Kantian Constructivism in Moral Theory’. Journal of Philosophy, 77(9), 515572.
Reath, Andrews (2006) Agency and Autonomy in Kant's Moral Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Reath, Andrews (2011) ‘Will, Obligatory Ends, and the Completion of Practical Reason: Comments on Barbara Herman's Moral Literacy. Kantian Review, 16(1), 115.
Schneewind, J. B. (1998) The Invention of Autonomy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sensen, Oliver (2009a) ‘Kant's Conception of Human Dignity’. Kant-Studien, 100(3), 309331.
Sensen, Oliver (2009b) ‘Kant's Conception of Inner Value’. European Journal of Philosophy, 19(2), 262280.
Stern, Robert (forthcoming) ‘Constructivism and the Argument for Autonomy’. In James Lenman and Yonatan Shemmer (eds), Constructivism in Practical Philosophy.
Timmermann, Jens (2006) ‘Values Without Regress: Kant's “Formula of Humanity” Revisited’. European Journal of Philosophy, 14(1), 6993.
Timmermann, Jens (2007) Kant's ‘Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals’: A Commentary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Velleman, J. David (2006) Self to Self. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wood, Allen (1999) Kant's Ethical Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wood, Allen (2008) Kantian Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Recommend this journal

Email your librarian or administrator to recommend adding this journal to your organisation's collection.

Kantian Review
  • ISSN: 1369-4154
  • EISSN: 2044-2394
  • URL: /core/journals/kantian-review
Please enter your name
Please enter a valid email address
Who would you like to send this to? *
×

Keywords:

Metrics

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 9
Total number of PDF views: 121 *
Loading metrics...

Abstract views

Total abstract views: 404 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between September 2016 - 12th June 2018. This data will be updated every 24 hours.