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Deutsche Philologie the Emptiness Charge in Kant's Moral Philosophy Fach: Deutsche Philologie The Emptiness Charge in Kant’s Moral Philosophy Inaugural Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades „Dr. phil.“ an der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität, Münster (Westf.) vorgelegt von Yuhang Guo Aus China 2018 ___________________________________________________________ Dekanin:Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Timm Erstgutachter: PD. Dr. Michael Kühler Zweitgutachter: Prof. Dr. Walter Mesch Tag der mündlichen Prüfung:04.May.2018 I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I am deeply grateful to my doctorate Supervisor, Prof.Michael Kühler, through my PhD, he has been a tireless and effective advocate on my behalf and a source of wise, useful and patient guidance. His deep and sympathetic understanding of Kant challenged me to make sure that I did not shortchange Kant’s great ideas. His belief in me enabled this study to finally see the light of day. My thanks to him will be never ending. I would also like to thank my second supervisor, Prof.Walter Mesch, for his generous time during the busy schedule, and for showing me that his highly expectations of the revised version. He has helped me nurture my ideas through our regular meetings and my first seminar in Munster on Kant, ultimately culminating in this dissertation. I would like to thank Professors who helped me through my doctorate research: Allen Wood, Sorin Baisu, Jens Timmermans, Angela Breitenbach, Nicholas Southwood, Roger Crisp, Robert Stern and Fabian Freyenhagen. As leading scholars in Kantian philosophy, they never hesitate to give substantial advice and encourage a beginner to go further in Kant’s scholars. My thanks also give to my college, J. Ndubuisi Edeh, for his keen interest and great diligence in helping the proofreading. I would like to thank Chinese government outstanding self-financed doctorate student’s award allowed me to make discernable progress on my research, while the IP@Munster travel stipend allowed me to focus my attention upon the writing process. Finally, I would like to thank the love of my wife-Lin. She had been taking on familial burdens and hardships, alone and without complaint. Lin also provided substantive and important comments in addition to valuable grammatical assistance. In no way could I have finished this work without her love and support. My parents and sister have also supported me with endless love to which I will never be able to fully repay. I can only ever hope to approximate the kind of person that my family continues to believe that I can be. II LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Works by Kant: All page references to Kant’s works are to the Royal Prussian Academy Edition of Kant’s Gesammelte Schriften. The abbreviations for the English translations are as follows: B Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime, translated by J. Goldthwait (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960) C Correspondence, translated and edited by A. Zweig (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999) Gr Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, translated by M.J. Gregor in Practical Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996) KPV Critique of Practical Reason, translated by M.J. Gregor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996) KRV Critique of Pure Reason, translated by P. Guyer and A. Wood (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997) KU Critique of the Power of Judgment, translated by P. Guyer and E. Matthews (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000) LE Lectures on Ethics, translated by Louis Infield (New York: Harper, 1963) MS Metaphysics of Morals, translated by M.J. Gregor in Practical Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996) P Inquiry Concerning the Distinctness of the Principles of Natural Theology and Morals, translated by L.W. Beck in Kant: Selections (New York: MacMillan R Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone, translated by T. Greene and H.Hudson (New York: Harper Row, 1960) TP On the Common Saying: That May Be True in Theory, But It Is of No Use in Practice, translated by M.J. Gregor in Practical Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996) III Table of Contents Introduction Categorical Imperative and the Emptiness Charge in Kant’s Moral Philosophy 3 Chapter One The Formalistic Expressions in Kant’s Writings 26 1.1Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals-The Equivalence Thesis 27 1.2 The Critique of Practical Reason-The Universal Will 40 Chapter Two Kant’s Formalism and Its Emptiness Charge 45 2.1 Hegel’s Empty Formalism Objection 47 2.1.1 A Restatement of Categorical Imperative 49 2.1.2 The Limited Interpretation of Hegel’s Emptiness Charge 54 2.1.3 The Systematic Interpretation of Emptiness Charge 58 2.2 Mill’s Utilitarianism Charge 61 2.2.1 Mill’s Utilitarianism 62 2.2.2 Mill’s Consequentialism 63 Summary 67 Chapter Three Rethinking the Emptiness Charge-the Formalists Reconstruction 68 3.1 Silber’s Procedural Formalism 71 3.2 Two Kantian Constructivism 80 3.2.1 Rawlsian Constructivism 80 3.2.2 O’Neill’s Constructivism 87 Conclusion 96 Chapter Four The Inspired Kantian Non-Formalism 98 4.1 Dietrichson’s ‘Typic’- Mediation-Principle 98 4.1.1 Acting from Duty 99 4.1.2 Mediation Principle-Typic 100 4.1.3 Dietrichson’s Objection to Empty Formalism 101 4.2 Steinberger- When a Maxim is not Universalizable 106 Conclusion 111 Chapter Five The Non-Formalistic Expressions in Kant’s Writings . 113 5.1 The Pre-Critical Period: A Tendency toward Anti-Formalism 114 5.2 The Critique of Pure Reason-Kant’s Moral Platonism as Anti-Formalism 125 1 5.3 The Metaphysics of Morals- Non-Formalistic Moral Law 133 Chapter Six From Kantian Value Realism to Non-Formal Values: A Kantian Strategy Answering the Emptiness Problem 140 6.1 Problems for Kantian Formalism 142 6.2 The Broad Emptiness Charge 143 6.3 Kantian Value Realism 146 6.3.1 The Evidence for Kantian Value Realism 147 6.3.2 Alison Hill’s Kantian Value Realism 150 6.4 Value of Humanity,Non-Formal Aspects of Values in Kant’s Moral Philosophy 153 6.4.1 The Non-Formal Value of Impartiality . 153 6.4.1.1 Logical Consistency: The Narrow Emptiness Charge to Impartiality 154 6.4.1.2 The Non-Formal Value of Impartiality 157 6.4.1.3 Two Broad Emptiness Charges to Impartiality 160 6.4.2 The Non-Formal Value of Autonomy 164 6.4.2.1 The Original Emptiness Charge on Autonomy 167 6.4.2.2 The Broad Emptiness Charge on Autonomy 168 6.4.3 The Non-Formal Value of Dignity 171 6.4.3.1 A Formalistic Explanation of Dignity 171 6.4.3.2 A Non-Formal Explanation of Dignity 173 Summary 176 Conclusion: The Content of Moral Law 178 Bibliography 178 VITA 184 2 Introduction Categorical Imperative and the Emptiness Charge in Kant’s Moral Philosophy1 Immanuel Kant’s moral philosophy is mostly remembered for its central thesis, the Categorical Imperative (CI). According to Kant, rational beings experience the moral law as a Categorical Imperative. The Categorical Imperative commands universally and unconditionally, from which all duties are derived. Kant articulates the Categorical Imperative through several formulations. The most prominent formulations of the Categorical Imperative are known as the Formula of Universal Law (CI1), the Humanity Formulation (CI2) and the Kingdom of Ends Formulation (CI3). The general thought of CI1 demands that one act only on the basis of maxims that one can will as universal laws. CI2 commands respect for rational agents as ends in themselves. CI3 follows from the first two, namely, to act according to maxims of a universally legislating member of a merely possible kingdom of ends. The Categorical Imperative is considered a strong principle in formal philosophy. As a formal principle, the Kantian moral law provides the necessary path to moral action. However, the debates on emptiness emerge, around the questions of how the Categorical Imperative could reach the moral conduct, whether one can will a candidate maxim as a universal law without this generating a contradiction through CI1, or how moral law commands respect for rational agents as ends in themselves through CI2. There have been numerous critiques of Kantian moral philosophy on the basis of emptiness. These critiques come from a variety of thinkers, Hegel and Mill for example, and from many different schools of thought. The best-known Hegelian objection 1 Although in Kant’s writings, he constantly talks about the issues of formalism, but he does not use the term emptiness. Commentators have used the terms emptiness of formalism or empty formalism in describing the abstract and hallow nature of the Kantian ethics. Ping-Cheng Lo, Robert M. Wallace, Allen W. Wood, Sally Sedgwick adopt the former while Stephen Houlgate, Michael Baur, F. Freyenhagen would prefer the latter. Here I may refer to some, but not all. 3 against Kant’s practical philosophy is the charge that the categorical imperative is an ‘empty formalism’. Given his historical significance, Hegel admits the “merit of Kant’s moral philosophy and its loftiness of outlook”. Before Kant, moral philosophy was dominated by Crusius’ sense of divine morality which stipulates that the will of a person has to be in accordance with the will of God. Wolff’s notion of moral perfection adds that we should strive to procedurally achieve our sense of moral obligation to the degree that the ends or effects of a particular action are based on our ability to accomplish perfection. Kant concludes that Wolff’s postulations are virtually impossible in attaining perfection in his Prize Essay in 1764. Crusius and Wolff’s arguments essentially appeal to the un-provable teleological assumptions of harmony, perfection, and divine will, whereas Kant’s view is particularly significant because it subverts the tradition that linked the divine will with anthropological considerations.
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