Human Dignity and the Kingdom of Ends: Kantian Perspectives and Practical Applications (Routledge Studies in Eighteenth-Century Philosophy)

Description

This book advances our understanding of the nature, grounds and limits of human dignity by connecting it with Kant’s notion of an ideal moral community, or "Kingdom of Ends". It features original essays by leading Kant scholars and moral and political philosophers from around the world. Although Kant’s influential injunction to treat humanity as an end in itself and never merely as a means has garnered the most attention among those interested in analyzing human dignity with a Kantian lens, Kant himself places much more emphasis on the Kingdom of Ends as crucial for defining human dignity. The chapters in this collection focus not only on interpretive issues related to the Kingdom of Ends but also on practical applications that have the potential to advance discussions about the nature and foundations of rights, the content of moral principles, the importance of moral ideals and attitudes and the nature of moral motivation. Exploring and connecting the ideas of human dignity and the Kingdom of Ends significantly deepens our moral understanding, advances discussions in moral and political philosophy and enhances our appreciation of Kant’s moral theory. Human Dignity and the Kingdom of Ends: Kantian Perspectives and Practical Applications will appeal to scholars and advanced students of Kant, moral philosophy, political philosophy, and political theory. Cover Endorsement Page Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of Contributors Acknowledgments Abbreviations for Kant’s Works Human Dignity and the Kingdom of Ends: An Introduction I.1 Human Dignity I.2 The Kingdom of Ends I.3 Dignity in the Kingdom of Ends I.4 Outline of the Volume I.4.1 Part I. Human Dignity and the Kingdom of Ends in Kant’s Groundwork I.4.2 Part II. The Politics of Human Dignity and the Kingdom of Ends I.4.3 Part III. The Ethics of Human Dignity and the Kingdom of Ends Notes Works Cited Part I: Human Dignity and the Kingdom of Ends in Kant’s Groundwork Chapter 1: The Dignity of Freedom 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Dignity 1.3 Freedom 1.4 Capacity or Realization? 1.5 Acting with Dignity Notes Works Cited Chapter 2: The Kingdom of Ends in the Groundwork 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Why a Kingdom of Ends? 2.3 What Is the Kingdom of Ends? 2.3.1 The Existence of the Kingdom of Ends 2.3.2 The Internal Structure of the Kingdom of Ends 2.4 Autonomy 2.5 Worth and Price 2.6 Dignity 2.7 Conclusion Notes References Chapter 3: “Closer to intuition (according to a certain analogy) and thereby to feeling”: Making Kant’s Kingdom of Ends Intuitive 3.1 A Very Fruitful Concept 3.2 Closer to Intuition (According to a Certain Analogy) 3.3 Counteracting Evil with United Forces 3.4 Greatly Scaled Down Under Human Hands 3.5 Something That the Senses Can Hold On to 3.6 Sensible Intermediaries That Serve as Schemata 3.7 … and thereby to feeling 3.8 Conclusion Notes Works Cited Chapter 4: Kant’s Understanding of Human Dignity as Self-Determination in the Realm of Ends 4.1 Conditions of Kant’s Understanding of Human Dignity as Self-Legislation in the Realm of Ends 1 4.2 The Use of the Concept Of Human Dignity in the Groundwork in the Third Imagination-Formula of the Categorical Imperative, the Realm-of-Ends-Formula 4.3 The Peculiarity of the Realm of Ends and the Realm-of-Ends Formula 4.4 Human Dignity in Kant as the Secularized Religious Idea of the Linkage to the Totality of the World United with the Moralized Rousseauian Concept of Autonomy Notes Bibliography Part II: The Politics of Human Dignity and the Kingdom of Ends Chapter 5: Honeste Vive : Dignity in Kant’s Theory of Juridical Obligation 5.1 Dignity in the Doctrine of Right 5.2 The Only Innate Right as Juridical Blamelessness ( Unbescholtenheit) 5.2.1 Innate Right and Honeste Vive 5.3 How Is External Juridical Obligation Possible? 5.3.1 A Modal Theory of Juridical Obligation 5.4 Conclusion Notes Works Cited Chapter 6: All Kings in the Kingdom of Ends? Notes Works Cited Chapter 7: The Transmutation of Dignity: Kant, Neo-Roman Republicanism, and the Commonwealth of Ends 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Dignity Prior to Kant 7.2.1 Roman dignitas 7.2.2 Christian Dignity 7.3 Neo-Roman Republicanism and Dignity 7.4 Sui iuris in the Commonwealth of Ends 7.5 The Transmutation of Hierarchical into Egalitarian Dignity Appendix: Kantianism Versus Neo-Roman Republicanism Notes References Chapter 8: Respect and Retribution in the Kingdom of Ends Notes Works Cited Chapter 9: Kantian Human Dignity and a “Community of Rights” 9.1 What a Concept of Human Dignity Would Have to Achieve? 9.2 A Kantian Line to Human Dignity 9.3 Human Dignity and Practical Self-Understanding 9.4 Human Dignity and the Hermeneutics of Human Rights Notes Bibliography Chapter 10: Poverty, Dignity, and the Kingdom of Ends 10.1 Kant’s Conception of Human Dignity 10.2 What Does It Mean Not to Respect the Moral Status of Persons in the Context of Poverty? 10.2.1 The Vulnerability-to-Instrumentalization Thesis 10.2.2 The Humiliation Thesis 10.3 What Would It Mean to Respect the Moral Status of Persons? – Two More Theses 10.3.1 Respect-for-Ends-in-Themselves Thesis 10.3.2 Treating Others as Ends and Means 10.4 Poverty as Exclusion From Humanity 10.5 Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes References Part III: The Ethics of Human Dignity and the Kingdom of Ends Chapter 11: Legislating in the Fray: Lillian Hellman and the Kingdom of Ends 1 11.1 Introduction 11.2 Lillian Hellman 11.3 Hellman and Kant 11.4 Kant on Dignity and the Kingdom of Ends 11.4.1 The Kingdom of Ends 11.4.2 Dignity 11.5 Hellman as Kantian Moral Legislator 11.5.1 The Problem Deepened 11.5.2 Enlightenment 11.5.3 Character 11.6 Conclusion Notes Works Cited Chapter 12: The Kingdom of Ends as Ideal 12.1 The Work of the Imagination 12.2 Kantian Ideals and the Imagination 12.2.1 Orientation 12.2.2 Harmonization 12.2.3 Reconciliation 12.2.4 Hope 12.3 The Kingdom of Ends as an Imaginative Ideal 12.4 Further Considerations Notes References Chapter 13: Gaslighting, Self-Respect, and the Kingdom of Ends 1 13.1 What is Gaslighting? 13.2 Examples and Distinctions 13.3 A Kantian Framework 13.4 The Facilitating Conditions of Gaslighting’s Success 13.5 The Injuries of Gaslighting 13.5.1 Groundlessly Undermining Another’s Capacity for Moral Judgment 13.5.2 Groundlessly Undermining Another’s Self-Respect 13.5.2.1 Kantian Recognition Self-Respect 13.5.2.2 Agentic Self-Respect 13.6 Gaslighting, Dignity and the Kingdom of Ends 13.7 Conclusion Notes Works Cited Chapter 14: Knowledge, Error, and Enlightenment in the Kingdom of Ends 14.1 Rational Interests in Representing What Is True or Real 14.1.1 Understanding 14.1.2 Insight 14.1.3 Knowledge 14.2 Rational Interests in Avoiding and Correcting Errors 14.2.1 Two Kinds of Errors 14.2.2 Guise of the Truth 14.3 Rational Interests in Thinking for Oneself 14.4 Complexities and Controversies 14.5 Prima Facie Laws of Reason 14.5.1 Prima Facsie Laws Concerning Ourselves 14.5.2 Prima Facie Laws Concerning Others 14.5.3 Prima Facie Laws Concerning Communication 14.6 Autonomy, Dignity, and the Kingdom of Ends 14.7 Theoretical and Practical Reason Notes Works Cited Chapter 15: Deliberating with Solidarity, Respect, and Appreciation 15.1 Aims and Limits of the Project 15.2 Basic Orienting Attitudes 15.3 Human Solidarity 15.4 Respect for Humanity 15.5 Appreciation 15.6 Concluding Remarks Notes Works Cited Index