Single Idea 21061

[catalogued under 22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 2. Happiness / c. Value of happiness]

Full Idea

My conception of duty does not need to be based on any particular end, but rather itself occasions a new end for the human will, that of striving with all one's power towards the highest good possible on earth, the universal happiness of the whole world.

Gist of Idea

Duty does not aim at an end, but gives rise to universal happiness as aim of the will

Source

Immanuel Kant (True in Theory, but not in Practice [1792], 1B)

Book Reference

Kant,Immanuel: 'Political Writings', ed/tr. Reiss,Hans [CUP 1996], p.65


A Reaction

I see nothing in the categorical imperative that demands 'all one's power', and nothing that specifies happiness as what has to be universalised. Nietzsche, for one, thinks happiness is overrated.