Digital Commons @ Assumption University Philosophy Department Faculty Works Philosophy Department 2011 Aristotle (versus Kant) on Autonomy and Moral Maturity Molly Brigid McGrath Assumption College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.assumption.edu/philosophy-faculty Part of the Philosophy Commons, Political Science Commons, and the Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons Recommended Citation Flynn, Molly Brigid. "Aristotle (versus Kant) on Autonomy and Moral Maturity." Who Are We? Old, New, and Timeless Answers from Core Texts: Selected Papers from the Fourteenth Annual Conference of the Association for Core Texts and Courses Plymouth, Massachusetts April 3-6, 2008. Edited by Robert D. Anderson, Molly Brigid Flynn, and J. Scott Lee. University Press of America, 2011. Pages 109-114. This Book Chapter is brought to you for free and open access by the Philosophy Department at Digital Commons @ Assumption University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Philosophy Department Faculty Works by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Assumption University. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Aristotle (versus Kant) on Autonomy and Moral Maturity Molly Brigid Flynn Assumption College On the one hand, we are persons, thus free morally, and we are capable of becoming morally mature. On the other hand, we are social animals. Often these sides of human life seem at odds. I will compare Kant’s modern view with Aristotle’s classical view of freedom and moral maturity to illustrate that how we philosophically describe our freedom makes a difference for how we understand our goal of moral maturity. Kant emphasizes autonomy as the essence of morality, and this autonomy or freedom contains both a negative from aspect and a positive to aspect.