Transcript The Kantian Heritage: An Assessment

The Kantian Heritage:
An Assessment
Lawrence M. Hinman, Ph.D.
University of San Diego
Director, The Values Institute
The Kantian Heritage


What Kant Helped Us to See Clearly
Where Kant Missed the Mark
What Kant Helped Us to See
Clearly

The Admirable Side of Acting from Duty
– The person of duty remains committed, not
matter how difficult things become.

The Evenhandedness of Morality
– Kantian morality does not play favorites.

Respecting Other Persons
– The notion of treating persons as ends in
themselves is central to much of modern
ethics.
Where Kant Missed the Mark

The Neglect of Moral Integration
– The person of duty can have deep and conflicting
inclinations and this does not decrease moral worth—
indeed, it seems to increase it in Kant’s eyes.

The Role of Emotions
– For Kant, the emotions are always suspect because they
are fickle and causally determined and passive.

The Place of Consequences in the Moral Life
– In order to protect the moral life from the vicissitude of
moral luck, Kant held a very strong position that refused
to attach moral blame to individuals who were acting
with good will, even though some indirect bad
consequences could be forseen.
Conclusion
Overall, after two hundred years, Kant
remains an absolutely central figure
in contemporary moral philosophy,
one from whom we can learn much
even when we disagree with him.