Phil 320: Kant’s Moral Philosophy
Prof. Patrick Frierson
Office Hours (Olin 151): T 4-5, W 9:30-10:30, Th 10-12 and by
appointment.
This course consists in a broad study of Kant’s moral philosophy. We begin with Kant’s Grounding of the Metaphysics of Morals, his most popular writing on moral philosophy. We then look at the relationship between morality and the rest of Kant’s philosophy through studying the Critique of Practical Reason, along with some selections from the Critique of Pure Reason. Then we look at particular issues in Kant’s moral philosophy, focusing in particular on his political philosophy and his discussions of human virtue. Both of these are discussed in the Metaphysics of Morals.
Throughout the course of the semester, our reading of Kant will be enriched by reading selected secondary sources. The two most important secondary sources for the course are Creating the Kingdom of Ends (by Christine Korsgaard) and Kant’s Ethical Theory (by Allen Wood).
This course is a tutorial. The class is divided into pairs, and each pair will meet with me once a week. During each weekly meeting, one student will be responsible for a paper discussing issues related to the reading for the day. Although I have provided one or more questions for each week, the papers can be on any topic related to the primary reading. You are expected to take the secondary sources into account where they are relevant. These papers should be 1400-1800 words. The other student will be responsible for responding to that paper. The tutorial will begin with the first student reading her/his paper. Then the other student will respond, and we will have an intensive discussion of the material. At the end of the semester, each student will have the chance to expand one of their tutorial papers into a longer final essay (1600-2000 words; this expansion is not required). Evaluation will be based on written work (60%), oral participation in the tutorial (20%), and critiques (20%). (I will be commenting on papers orally, as part of the tutorial itself. If you would like to know where you stand in terms of your grade, you may ask me at any time.)
Papers must be turned in no later than 4 PM on the day before your scheduled tutorial meeting. You should email a copy of your paper to me (frierspr@whitman.edu) as well as to your tutorial partner. (For emailing papers to me, you should save all files in Word (.DOC) format under the title “YourName KMP WeekNumber.” For example, if I were turning in the paper for Week 5, I would save it as “Patrick Frierson KMP Week 6.doc”)
Books:
Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason (hereafter R)
Kant’s Ethical Thought, by Allen Wood (hereafter Wood)
Creating the Kingdom of Ends, by Christine Korsgaard (hereafter Korsgaard)
Kant’s Theory of Freedom, by Henry Allison (hereafter Allison)
Public Lectures:
I will give at least four public lectures over the course of the semester (I’m aiming for six, but we’ll see what happens). I will generally aim these talks to coincide with the material from Kant that we are reading at the time. You are expected to attend these talks, but they are also meant to be accessible to the Whitman community as a whole. The tentative schedule of talks is as follows (except for the first one, all the talks are on Tuesday evenings at 7 PM, locations to be announced):
Jan. 17th (Wednesday): “Kant’s Racism”
Jan. 30th: “Is Kant’s Categorical Imperative Just Common Sense?”
Feb. 13th: “Freedom vs. Education: A problem for Kant’s ethics?”
March 6th: “Evil and Mercy in Kant’s Ethics.”
April 3rd: “Kant’s Political Theory: Kant, Rawls, and Private Property”
April 17th: “Kant’s Racism” (if I don’t get to it on Jan. 17th).
April 24th: “Kant’s Misogyny, Or, Does Kant become more sexist as he gets older?”
Timeline
Prelim class: Read Wood 1 – 14, Korsgaard 3 – 42
Week One: Kant’s argument for the Categorical
Imperative
Grounding, Part One (pp. 39 – 60), Korsgaard 43-76, Wood 17-49 (also recommended: 50-75).
What is the central argument of Grounding I? Based on the reading, what seem to have been the most important challenges that Kant’s morality had to meet in his own day? What are the most important challenges that his morality needs to meet today? Is the argument of Grounding I successful?
Week Two: The Formulae of the Categorical Imperative
Grounding II (pp. 61-93), Korsgaard 77-132, Wood 76-155.
What is the relationship between the different forms of the categorical imperative? In particular, are the Formula of Universal Law and the Formula of Humanity simply two different forms of the same law or are they fundamentally different laws with different practical results? Which formula is better? Why?
Week Three: Autonomy and Freedom
Grounding II – III (pp. 61-108), “What is Enlightenment?” (pp. 17-22), Korsgaard 159-187, Wood 156-192, Allison Kant’s Theory of Freedom, pp. 85-106.
In what sense is “autonomy” the supreme principle of morality? How does this relate to Kant’s earlier explanation of the categorical imperative?
What is the relationship between freedom and autonomy?
How does “What is Enlightenment?” relate to the Groundwork?
Week Four: Kant’s
Argument(s) for Freedom and Its Relation to Morality
Grounding III (pp. 94-108) and Critique of Practical Reason (pp. 139-85, especially pp. 173-80), Korsgaard pp. 159-187, Allison 214-49, Ameriks “Kant’s Deduction of Freedom and Morality”, chapter 5 in Interpreting Kant's Critiques (on reserve in library). (Optional: Lewis White Beck, A Commentary on Kant's Critique of Practical Reason, pp. 1-18.)
How does Kant defend the claim that human beings are free?
Does Kant change his mind about the relationship between freedom and morality between the Grounding and the second Critique? If so, why would he change his mind? Which position is stronger?
Week Five: Respect for the Moral Law
Critique of Practical Reason (pp. 186-225, especially 198-210), Allison 107-128; McCarty, “Kantian Moral Motivation and the Feeling of Respect”; Andrews Reath, "Kant's Theory of Moral Sensibility" in Kant-Studien 80 (1989): 282-304 (on reserve); Grenberg, Kant and the Ethics of Humility (on reserve), pages 133-62 (focus on 150-3); review Wood 42-29.
What is respect for the moral law? What role does it play in Kant’s moral theory?
Week Six (option 1):
Kant’s Philosophy of Religion: God.
Primary
What is the relationship between reason and faith? What is Kant’s notion of the highest good? How does this notion relate to his ethics? How does it fit into his philosophy of religion?
Week Six (option 2):
Kant’s Aesthetics and Its Relation to Morality
Critique of Judgment, handout (Critique of Judgment sections 1-22 (skim) and sections 40-42 and 55), Guyer Kant and the Experience of Freedom (on reserve), chapters 9 and 10; Allison Kant and the Claims of Taste (on reserve) chapters 10 and 11.
For Kant, what is the basis of judgments of taste? What is the relationship between taste and a good will? What should Kant say about the relationship between these?
Week Seven: Radical
Evil and Freedom
Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason, Book I, pp. 33-73, Allison pp. 129-161, Wood 283-290, Frierson Freedom and Anthropology in Kant’s Moral Philosophy (on reserve) pp. 34-9, 95-114; Grenberg Kant and the Ethics of Humility (on reserve), pages 15-22 and 29-48.
How, if at all, is Kant’s conception of freedom in the Religion different from his conception of freedom in the Grounding and Critique of Practical Reason? What, for Kant, is radical evil in human nature? How does Kant prove that human beings are radically evil? What effect does this conclusion have on his overall moral theory?
Week Eight: Dealing
with Radical Evil (Option One: Grace)
Religion and Rational Theology, pp. 101-26, 146-152; Mariña “Kant on
Grace,” Adams “Introduction” to Religion,
Frierson Freedom and Anthropology (on
reserve) pp. 114-22. (Optional: Patrick
Frierson, “
Week Eight: Dealing
with Radical Evil (Option Two: Moral Community)
Religion and Rational Theology, pp. 129-53 (Optional: read the rest of Part III); Wood 283-320, Anderson-Gold
33-53, Frierson (on reserve) pp. 136-62.
(Optional: Patrick Frierson, “
Week Nine: Applied
Kantian Ethics I: Duties of Right, Private Property, Contracts.
Choose one question:
(a) What is the difference between a duty of right and a duty of virtue? How does each sort of duty relate to the categorical imperative? (For this question, focus on pp. 355-97 and 509-22)
(b) For Kant, why is private property necessary? Why are contracts necessary? Is Kant correct? How do these arguments relate to the general structure that Kant lays out for his political theory? How do they relate to the categorical imperative? (For this question, focus on pp. 401-26, 455-61.)
(c) What does Kant’s argument for private property suggest about the possibility of and/or need for a welfare state? (For this question, focus on pp. 401-26, 455-61.)
(d) What is the basis of political authority, for Kant? (For this question, focus on pp. 401-26, 455-61.)
Week Ten: Applied
Kantian Ethics II: Lying
Reading: Grounding (pp. 61-93), Metaphysics of Morals (pp. 543-45, 552-557), “On the Supposed Right to Lie from Philanthropic Motives” (pp. 607-615), Korsgaard 133-158 (optional: 335-362). Also view: James Mahon, "Lying as a Violation of Duty to Oneself" (video).
What is/are Kant’s best argument(s) against lying? For Kant, is lying always wrong? If not, under what circumstances is lying acceptable? Does the issue of lying show that Kant’s moral theory is impractical, too demanding, or just plain wrong?
Week Eleven (see too
alternative option below): Kant’s Early
Ethics I.
(a) How is Kant’s early ethical theory different from his later ethical theory? Which ethical theory is better? Why?
(b) Are Kant’s claims about women and/or other races consistent with the ethical theory developed in Observations? Are they consistent with the ethical theory he developed later?
(c) Was Kant a racist? What impact does your answer to this question have on your estimation of his moral theory?
Week Twelve (see too
alternative option below): Kant’s Early
Ethics II.
(a) In what ways do Kant’s views in the Remarks move away from his views in the Observations. Why does Kant change his views? Are his changes for the better?
(b) How does the development of Kant’s ethics, as traced out in the Remarks, affect your understanding of the mature ethical theory laid out in his Groundwork and later works?
Optional Alternative
for Either Week Eleven or Week Twelve (or an additional “Week Thirteen”): Applied Kantian Ethics III: Student’s Choice.
Pick one of the following issues and discuss how Kant’s moral theory applies to it. You should take into account not only what Kant does think about the issue, but what he should think, given his overall moral theory. You are expected to do your own secondary source research for other discussions of this issue that can shed light on Kant. A valuable resource for finding secondary sources is the Philosopher’s Index, accessible at http://www.whitman.edu/penrose/humdiv.html (at the bottom of the page).
Possible Topics for Study (you are welcome to add something to the list):
Friendship
Sex and Marriage
Ethical treatment of animals
The Ethical Importance of Good Manners
Slavery and Servanthood
Alcohol and Drug Use
Capital Punishment
Welfare
Ethics of War/International Law
Duties to God