Kant on Moral Satisfaction

Kantian Review 22 (2):281-303 (2017)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This paper gives an account of Kant’s concept of self-contentment (Selbstzufriedenheit), i.e. the satisfaction involved in the performance of moral action. This concept is vulnerable to an important objection: if moral action is satisfying, it might only ever be performed for the sake of this satisfaction. I explain Kant’s response to this objection and argue that it is superior to Francis Hutcheson’s response to a similar objection. I conclude by showing that two other notions of moral satisfaction in Kant’s moral philosophy, namely ‘sweet merit’ and the highest good, also avoid the objection.

Other Versions

No versions found

Similar books and articles

Kant’s Conception of Selbstzufriedenheit.Michael H. Walschots - 2018 - In Violetta L. Waibel, Margit Ruffing & David Wagner (eds.), Natur und Freiheit: Akten des XII. Internationalen Kant-Kongresses. De Gruyter. pp. 2249-2256.
Kant on Happiness in the Moral Life.Gary Watson - 1983 - Philosophy Research Archives 9:79-108.
Realizing the Good: Hegel's Critique of Kantian Morality.Nicolás García Mills - 2017 - European Journal of Philosophy (1):195-212.
Hutcheson and Kant: Moral Sense and Moral Feeling.Michael Walschots - 2017 - In Elizabeth Robinson & Chris W. Surprenant (eds.), Kant and the Scottish Enlightenment. New York: Routledge. pp. 36-54.
Moral Sense Theory and the Development of Kant's Ethics.Michael Walschots - 2016 - Dissertation, University of Western Ontario
Kant, Garve, and the Motives of Moral Action.Bernd Bernd - 2007 - Journal of Moral Philosophy 4 (2):183-193.
Kant, garve, and the motives of moral action.Bernd Ludwig - 2007 - Journal of Moral Philosophy 4 (2):183-193.

Analytics

Added to PP
2016-11-09

Downloads
779 (#31,265)

6 months
174 (#21,428)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Michael Walschots
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

References found in this work

An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals.David Hume & Tom L. Beauchamp - 1998 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 190 (2):230-231.
An Inquiry Into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue.Francis Hutcheson - 1726 - New York: Garland. Edited by Wolfgang Leidhold.
A commentary on Kant's Critique of practical reason.Lewis White Beck - 1960 - [Chicago]: University of Chicago Press.
Gesammelte Schriften. Kant - 1912 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 73:105-106.
Kant's Moral Religion.Allen W. Wood - 1970 - Ithaca,: Cornell University Press.

View all 11 references / Add more references