Kantian Ethics and the Formula of Humanity: Towards Virtues and Ends

• Main Author: Bachour, Omar
• Other Authors: Sneddon, Andrew
• Language: en
• Published: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa 2013
• Subjects: Kantian Ethics; Kant; Formula of Humanity; Kingdom of Ends; Virtues; Ends; Virtue Ethics
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10393/30336; http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-3451

The aim of this work is to show that criticisms of Kantian ethics from the field of virtue ethics misfire because they rely on a widespread reading of Kant which centers on the Groundwork and the Formula of Universal Law as the key elements in his moral philosophy. This reading, I argue, is susceptible both to charges of “empty formalism” and moral “rigorism” as well as the complaint voiced by virtue ethicists that Kantian ethics lacks a full-blooded account of the virtues, along with the attendant desiderata of sociality, character and the emotions. In response, I defend the proposal that the Formula of Humanity and the Doctrine of Virtue in the Metaphysics of Morals represent the final form of Kant’s ethical thought. If this is accurate, a rich and novel ethical theory emerges, and many of the criticisms from the field of virtue ethics are subsequently disarmed.