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Single Idea 21061

[filed under theme 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 Ref

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.

The 14 ideas with the same theme [how important is happiness?]:

2681 Aristotle is unsure about eudaimonia because he is unsure what people are [Nagel on Aristotle]
5132 Goods like pleasure are chosen partly for happiness, but happiness is chosen just for itself [Aristotle]
30 Happiness is perfect and self-sufficient, the end of all action [Aristotle]
14522 What happens to me if I obtain all my desires, and what if I fail? [Epicurus]
22985 Everyone wants happiness [Augustine]
6210 Life has no end (not even happiness), because we have desires, which presuppose a further end [Hobbes]
1386 A concern for happiness is the inevitable result of consciousness [Locke]
1454 Morality is not about making ourselves happy, but about being worthy of happiness [Kant]
21061 Duty does not aim at an end, but gives rise to universal happiness as aim of the will [Kant]
2891 Only the English actually strive after happiness [Nietzsche]
4500 It is a sign of degeneration when eudaimonistic values begin to prevail [Nietzsche]
4558 We have no more right to 'happiness' than worms [Nietzsche]
18307 I want my work, not happiness! [Nietzsche]
7983 Good versus evil has been banefully reduced to happiness versus misfortune [Baudrillard]