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Abstract:
I argue that ‘end in itself’, as Kant uses it in the Groundwork, is foremost a normative concept, and not mainly a descriptive one, as Oliver Sensen claims in his book Kant on human dignity. Sensen is right in arguing that dignity is not a value concept that signifies some obscure property. But he does not acknowledge the basis of dignity that lies in a relation to ourselves in which we stand in determining ourselves as willing subjects. Although dignity is not the reason why the moral law is binding on us, it is of vital importance to understand the nature of Kant’s conception of obligation. Dignity denotes the normative priority of freedom and of the law of freedom as against the law of nature.
Published Online: 2015-3-20
Published in Print: 2015-3-20
© De Gruyter
