British Journal for the History of Philosophy 18 (3):461-485 (2010)
Authors |
|
Abstract |
Kant and Leibniz are interested in explaining how a number of individuals can come together and form a single unified composite substance. Leibniz does not have a convincing account of how this is possible. In his pre-critical writings and in his later metaphysics lectures, Kant is committed to the claim that the idea of a world is the idea of a real whole, and hence is the idea of a composite substance. This metaphysical idea is taken over into his ethical writings and becomes the idea of a realm of ends. I explain why a realm of ends, should be thought of as both a unum per se and as a real whole. A realm of ends is a whole of individuals unified by laws they have given themselves, that is, it is a community of autonomous individuals. Only such a community can be thought of as a composite individual. Such a whole will be real rather than ideal because the source of the unity of the whole is intrinsic to the whole, for what gives unity to the realm are laws and the sources of the laws are the individual members of the whole. It will be a unum per se because both the laws and the individuals constituting the realm are incomplete without one another. If this reading is correct, this requires a fundamental reevaluation of Kant’s notion of autonomy. To be autonomous is not, primarily, to be understood in terms of ruling oneself, but instead must be thought of primarily in terms of being a generative source of laws for an ideal community.
|
Keywords | Kant Leibniz Interaction causation composition unity monads kingdom of ends pre-established harmony influx |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
DOI | 10.1080/09608781003779800 |
Options |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Download options
References found in this work BETA
Leibniz and the Elements of Compound Bodies.Pauline Phemister - 2014 - British Journal for the History of Philosophy 22 (1):57-78.
Leibniz and the Problem of Monadic Aggregation.Donald Rutherford - 1994 - Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 76 (1):65-90.
Leibniz and the Elements of Compound Bodies.Pauline Phemister - 1999 - British Journal for the History of Philosophy 7 (1):57 – 78.
Leibniz on Body, Force and Extension 1.Daniel Garber - 2005 - Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 105 (3):363-384.
Citations of this work BETA
Has Social Justice Any Legitimacy in Kant's Theory of Right? The Empirical Conditions of the Legal State as a Civil Union.Nuria Sánches Madrid - 2014 - Trans/Form/Ação 37 (2):127-146.
Similar books and articles
Setting Ends for Oneself Through Reason.Andrews Reath - 2009 - In Simon Robertson (ed.), Spheres of Reason. Oxford University Press.
Representing Subjects, Mind-Dependent Objects: Kant, Leibniz and the Amphiboly.Antonio-Maria Nunziante & Alberto Vanzo - 2009 - British Journal for the History of Philosophy 17 (1):133-151.
On the Textual Authenticity of Kant's Logic.Terry Boswell - 1988 - History and Philosophy of Logic 9 (2):193-203.
Can Kant Have an Account of Moral Education?Kate A. Moran - 2009 - Journal of Philosophy of Education 43 (4):471-484.
Kant and Leibniz on the Singularity of the Best of All Possible Worlds.Markku Roinila - 2013 - In Stefano Bacin, Alfredo Ferrarin, Laudio La Rocca & Margit Ruffin (eds.), Kant und die Philosophie in weltbürgerlicher Absicht. Akten des XI. Kant-Kongresses 2010. De Gruyter. pp. 381-390.
Kant Und Leibniz (Zu K. Hildebrandt, Kant Und Leibniz).Martin Gottfried - 1956 - Kant-Studien 47 (1-4):409-416.
Leibniz, Kant and Frege on the Existence Predicate.Brandon C. Look - 2011 - In H. Breger, J. Herbst & S. Erdner (eds.), Natur und Subjekt: Akten des IX. Internationalen Leibniz-Kongresses. Hartmann.
Comments on Roger Ariew's “Descartes and Leibniz as Readers of Suarez”.Jeffrey K. McDonough - manuscript
The Realm of Ends as a Community of Spirits: Kant and Swedenborg on the Kingdom of Heaven and the Cleansing of the Doors of Perception.Lucas Thorpe - 2011 - Heythrop Journal 52 (1):52-75.
Analytics
Added to PP index
2010-08-06
Total views
322 ( #31,842 of 2,498,762 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
13 ( #59,208 of 2,498,762 )
2010-08-06
Total views
322 ( #31,842 of 2,498,762 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
13 ( #59,208 of 2,498,762 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads