✍ Scribed by Oliver Sensen
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Immanuel Kant is often considered to be the source of the contemporary idea of human dignity, but his conception of human dignity and its relation to human value and to the requirement to respect others have not been widely understood. Kant on Human Dignity offers the first in-depth study in English of this subject. Based on a comprehensive analysis of all the passages in which Kant uses the term ‘dignity’, as well as an analysis of the most prominent arguments for a value of human beings in the Kant literature, the book carefully examines different ways of construing the relationship between dignity, value and respect for others. It takes seriously Kant’s Copernican Revolution in moral philosophy: Kant argues that moral imperatives cannot be based on any values without yielding heteronomy. Instead it is imperatives of reason that determine what is valuable. The requirement to respect all human beings is one such imperative. Respect for human beings does not follow from human dignity—for this would violate autonomy—but is an unconditional command of reason. Following this train of thought yields a unified account of Kant’s moral philosophy.
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
Part I Respect for Others
Chapter 1: Kant’s Conception of Value
Introduction
Section 1: Kant on Value as a Property
Section 2: Kant’s Argument Against Value as a Foundation
Section 3: Alternative Conceptions of Value
Section 4: Kant’s Conception of Absolute Inner Value
Section 5: The Appearance of ‘Value’ in Kant’s Works
Conclusion
Chapter 2: The Value of Humanity
Introduction
Section 1: Korsgaard’s Regress Argument
Section 2: Korsgaard’s Modified Argument
Section 3: Allen Wood’s Modified Regress Argument
Section 4: Guyer on the Value of Freedom
Section 5: The Value of a Morally Good Will
Results of this Chapter
Chapter 3: Kant’s Formula of Humanity
Introduction
Section 1: The Formula of Humanity Passage (GMS 4:427–9)
Section 2: The Justification for Respect
Section 3: The Application of the Formula of Humanity
Section 4: The Emptiness Objection
Conclusion
Part II Kant’s Conception of Dignity
Chapter 4: Three Paradigms of Dignity
Introduction
Section 1: The Contemporary Paradigm of Dignity
Section 2: The Traditional Paradigm of Dignity
Section 3: The Differences Between the Two Conceptions
Section 4: Kant and the Traditional Paradigm
Concluding Remarks
Chapter 5: Kant’s Conception of Human Dignity
Introduction
Section 1: The Appearance of ‘Dignity’ in Kant’s Works
Section 2: Dignity in the Groundwork
Section 3: Dignity in the Doctrine of Virtue
Section 4: The Relevance of Kant’s Conception of Dignity
Concluding Remarks
Conclusion
References
Author Index
Subject Index
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