Single Idea 6195

[catalogued under 23. Ethics / D. Deontological Ethics / 6. Motivation for Duty]

Full Idea

How a law in itself can be the direct motive of the will (which is the essence of morality) is an insoluble problem for the human reason.

Gist of Idea

Reason cannot solve the problem of why a law should motivate the will

Source

Immanuel Kant (Critique of Practical Reason [1788], I.1.III)

Book Reference

Kant,Immanuel: 'Critique of Practical Reason (Third edition)', ed/tr. Beck,Lewis White [Library of Liberal Arts 1993], p.75


A Reaction

If that is the great man's final word, then it is tempting to switch to an empirical moral theory, such as that of Hobbes or Hume or E.O. Wilson, which starts from what motivations are available, and builds morality up from that.