A critique of the practical contradiction procedure for testing maxims

Kantian Review 10:112-127 (2005)
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Abstract

Emerging from the growing swell of recent literature concerning Kant's practical philosophy, one interpretation of his procedure for testing maxims has crested above others. The influential interpretation to which I refer believes that the categorical imperative guides a procedure that finds maxims impermissible when they cannot be universalized without producing a 'practical' contradiction. As a major proponent of the practical contradiction interpretation, Christine Korsgaard claims that, while there is textual support for this point of view, she is more concerned with developing a defensible interpretation of maxim testing for a ‘Kantian’ system of morality. Accordingly, one cannot simply attempt to evaluate such a theory solely by considering its various incongruities with Kant's specific claims and arguments. Instead, my evaluation of the practical contradiction interpretation will examine: whether it is a procedure that is applicable to a full range of maxims; whether it maintains a distinct advantage over the alternative readings; and whether it is an internally coherent and consistent model for testing maxims. I propose, here, that regardless of the practical contradiction test's many advantages, it fails with regard to all three of these questions

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Shawn Kaplan
Adelphi University

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References found in this work

Kant's Formula of Universal Law.Christine M. Korsgaard - 1985 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 66 (1-2):24-47.
Kant's examples of the categorical imperative.J. Kemp - 1958 - Philosophical Quarterly 8 (30):63-71.
Proceedings of the Third International Kant Congress.Lewis White Beck - 1972 - Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 34 (3):581-584.

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