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Single Idea 22007

[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / B. Value / 1. Nature of Value / f. Ultimate value ]

Full Idea

For Kant, there is something about beings that can act autonomously that is itself of 'absolute worth', which Kant calls the 'dignity' [Würde] of each such agent.

Gist of Idea

An autonomous agent has dignity [Würde], which has absolute worth

Source

report of Immanuel Kant (Critique of Practical Reason [1788]) by Terry Pinkard - German Philosophy 1760-1860 02

Book Ref

Pinkard,Terry: 'German Philosophy 1760-1860' [CUP 2002], p.53

A Reaction

This answers my puzzle about where Kant's fundamental values come from. Surely wicked actions can be autonomous? Autonomous actions aren't thereby good actions. A 'good' will, course, whatever that is. Rational? My problem with existentialist ethics.

The 34 ideas from 'Critique of Practical Reason'

18235 Only human reason can confer value on our choices [Kant, by Korsgaard]
18675 Kant may rate two things as finally valuable: having a good will, and deserving happiness [Orsi on Kant]
22007 An autonomous agent has dignity [Würde], which has absolute worth [Kant, by Pinkard]
18234 The good will is unconditionally good, because it is the only possible source of value [Kant, by Korsgaard]
6183 Can pure reason determine the will, or are empirical conditions relevant? [Kant]
6181 Necessity cannot be extracted from an empirical proposition [Kant]
6207 What fills me with awe are the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me [Kant]
6184 Consistency is the highest obligation of a philosopher [Kant]
6185 No one would lend money unless a universal law made it secure, even after death [Kant]
6186 A holy will is incapable of any maxims which conflict with the moral law [Kant]
6187 Universality determines the will, and hence extends self-love into altruism [Kant]
6188 A permanent natural order could not universalise a rule permitting suicide [Kant]
6190 The sole objects of practical reason are the good and the evil [Kant]
6191 The will is the faculty of purposes, which guide desires according to principles [Kant]
6192 Good or evil cannot be a thing, but only a maxim of action, making the person good or evil [Kant]
6193 Our happiness is all that matters, not as a sensation, but as satisfaction with our whole existence [Kant]
6194 The highest worth for human beings lies in dispositions, not just actions [Kant]
6197 Morality involves duty and respect for law, not love of the outcome [Kant]
6196 People cannot come to morality through feeling, because morality must not be sensuous [Kant]
6195 Reason cannot solve the problem of why a law should motivate the will [Kant]
6198 Virtue is the supreme state of our pursuit of happiness, and so is supreme good [Kant]
1456 Moral law is holy, and the best we can do is achieve virtue through respect for the law [Kant]
1452 Happiness is the condition of a rational being for whom everything goes as they wish [Kant]
1454 Morality is not about making ourselves happy, but about being worthy of happiness [Kant]
6200 Wisdom is knowing the highest good, and conforming the will to it [Kant]
6201 Everyone (even God) must treat rational beings as ends in themselves, and not just as means [Kant]
6199 Obligation does not rest on the existence of God, but on the autonomy of reason [Kant]
1453 We have to postulate something outside nature which makes happiness coincide with morality [Kant]
1455 Belief in justice requires belief in a place for justice (heaven), a time (eternity), and a cause (God) [Kant, by PG]
6205 To know if this world must have been created by God, we would need to know all other possible worlds [Kant]
6204 Using God to explain nature is referring to something inconceivable to explain what is in front of you [Kant]
6206 From our limited knowledge we can infer great virtues in God, but not ultimate ones [Kant]
6202 In all naturalistic concepts of God, if you remove the human qualities there is nothing left [Kant]
6203 Metaphysics is just a priori universal principles of physics [Kant]