Abstract

Kant hoped that moral reasoning could be reduced to practical reasoning, or that they were one and the same. The simplicity of this idea and its implications for a number of philosophical puzzles is significant. I argue, however, that such a reconcilation is not possible, or at least, ought not to be. I argue that having moral integrity or being altruistic, for instance, require akratic action. I survey several examples of these types of cases to illustrate this. If I am correct, then truly moral actions -- those done with the right intention -- entail a disposition to fail to be means-ends rational. Any reconciliation of moral action and practical rationality is therefore not logically possible.