Recent work on Kantian maxims II
Philosophy Compass 5 (3):228-239 (2010)
Abstract
Maxims play a crucial role in Kant's ethical philosophy, but there is significant disagreement about what maxims are. In this two-part essay, I survey eight different views of Kantian maxims, presenting their strengths and their weaknesses. In Part II: New Approaches, I look at three more recent views in somewhat greater detail than I do the five treatments canvassed in 'Recent Works on Kantian Maxims I: Established Approaches'. First, there is Richard McCarty's Interpretation, which holds that Kant's understanding of maxims can be illuminated by placing them in the context of the Wollfian tradition, according to which maxims are the major premises of practical syllogisms. The next subject Maria Schwartz, holds that careful attention to Kant's distinction between rules and maxims, as well as Kant's concept of happiness, allows us to make sense of almost all of Kant's remarks on maxims. It may be, however, that on Schwartz's view agents turn out to perform actions as opposed to thoughtlessly habitual behaviors much less often than is plausible. This leads to the final approach, exemplified by Jens Timmermann, which is that Kant understands maxims equivocally. I claim that something like Timmermann's approach is the only way to make sense of all of what Kant has to say on maxims.Author's Profile
DOI
10.1111/j.1747-9991.2009.00255.x
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Citations of this work
Kant’s Account of Epistemic Normativity.Reza Hadisi - forthcoming - Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie.
Recent work on Kantian maxims I: Established approaches.Rob Gressis - 2010 - Philosophy Compass 5 (3):216-227.
Schizophrenia and Moral Responsibility: A Kantian Essay.Matthé Scholten - 2016 - Philosophia 44 (1):205-225.
Acción e historia. Máximas, intención y sentido en la concepción kantiana de la acción intencional.Luis Placencia - 2020 - Con-Textos Kantianos 1 (11):406-422.
References found in this work
Constructions of Reason: Explorations of Kant's Practical Philosophy.Onora O'Neill - 1989 - Cambridge University Press.
Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals: A Commentary.Jens Timmermann - 2007 - Cambridge University Press.