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8 - Rousseau and Kant

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2023

Stephen Darwall
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
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Summary

No philosopher is more strongly associated with deontological ethics or is a more canonical modern moral philosopher than Immanuel Kant. In this chapter, we focus on Kant, though we begin, after a brief introduction of Kant and his historico-philosophical significance, with Rousseau. Rousseau is best known as a political philosopher, but there are elements of his thought that have great importance for moral philosophy and its history and, especially, for Kant. Kant credits Rousseau as the source of his signature claim of the equal dignity of rational persons. And Rousseau’s conception of political society as an “association” that “defend[s] and protect[s] the person and goods of each associate with the full common force,” but where each “nevertheless obey[s] only himself,” has obvious resonances with Kant’s “kingdom of ends” in which all are governed by self-legislated law. At the same time, Rousseau offers important points of contrast to Kant. Whereas Rousseau’s emphasis is essentially social and political, Kant will attempt to argue for morality as a common law binding all agents that is grounded in practical reason alone. Rousseau, by contrast, points toward an alternative grounding in sociability that is reminiscent more of Grotius, Pufendorf, Smith, and Reid.

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Modern Moral Philosophy
From Grotius to Kant
, pp. 269 - 342
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • Rousseau and Kant
  • Stephen Darwall, Yale University, Connecticut
  • Book: Modern Moral Philosophy
  • Online publication: 10 June 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139025065.010
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  • Rousseau and Kant
  • Stephen Darwall, Yale University, Connecticut
  • Book: Modern Moral Philosophy
  • Online publication: 10 June 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139025065.010
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Rousseau and Kant
  • Stephen Darwall, Yale University, Connecticut
  • Book: Modern Moral Philosophy
  • Online publication: 10 June 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139025065.010
Available formats
×