Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T05:42:52.925Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Kant on the Ground of Human Dignity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2021

Apaar Kumar
Apaar Kumar*
Affiliation:
Humanities and Languages Division, School of Arts and Sciences, Ahmedabad University
*
apaarkumar@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Kant interpreters have contrasting views on what Kant takes to be the basis for human dignity. Several commentators have argued that human dignity can be traced back to some feature of human beings. Others contend that humans in themselves lack dignity, but dignity can be attributed to them because the moral law demands respect for humanity. I argue, alternatively, that human dignity in Kant’s system can be seen to be grounded in the reciprocal relationship between the dignity of the moral law and the dignity inherent in the human constitution. The latter includes the dignity of personhood, construed as rational inner purposiveness, and the dignity of giving oneself the law and striving to follow it.

Keywords

human dignitypersonmoral lawpurposivenessvirtueautonomy
Type
Article
Information
Kantian Review , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , September 2021 , pp. 435 - 453
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Kantian Review

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allison, Henry E. (2011) Kant’s Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bojanowski, Jochen (2015) ‘Kant on Human Dignity: A Response to Oliver Sensen’. Kant-Studien, 106(1), 78–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caranti, Luigi (2017) Kant’s Political Legacy: Human Rights, Peace, Progress. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.Google Scholar
Darwall, Stephen (2013) Honor, History and Relationship: Essays in Second-Personal Ethics II. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dean, Richard (2006) The Value of Humanity in Kant’s Moral Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dean, Richard (2013) ‘Humanity as an Idea, as an Ideal, and as an End in itself’. Kantian Review, 18, 171–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denis, Lara (2007) ‘Kant’s Formula of the End in itself: Some Recent Debates’. Philosophy Compass, 2(2), 244–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denis, Lara (2010) ‘Humanity, Obligation, and the Good Will: An Argument Against Dean’s Interpretation of Humanity’. Kantian Review, 15, 118–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geiger, Ido (2015) ‘How are the Different Formulas of the Categorical Imperative Related?’ Kantian Review, 20(3), 395–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guyer, Paul (1998) ‘The Value of Reason and the Value of Freedom’. Ethics, 109(1), 22–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guyer, Paul (2000) Kant on Freedom, Law and Happiness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guyer, Paul (2006) Kant. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herman, Barbara (1993) The Practice of Moral Judgment. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hill, Thomas E. Jr (1992) Dignity and Practical Reason in Kant’s Moral Theory. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Hill, Thomas E. Jr (2014) ‘Kantian Perspectives on the Rational Basis of Human Dignity’. In Marcus, Düwell, Jens, Braarvig, Roger, Brownsword and Dietmar, Mieth (eds), The Cambridge Handbook of Human Dignity: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 215–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kant, Immanuel (1900–) Kant’s gesammelte Schriften. Ed. Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Kerstein, Samuel J. (2006) ‘Deriving the Formula of Humanity (GMS 427–437)’. In Christoph, Horn and Dieter, Schönecker (eds), Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter), 201–22.Google Scholar
Kerstein, Samuel J. (2014) ‘Kantian Dignity: A Critique’. In Marcus, Düwell, Jens, Braarvig, Roger, Brownsword and Dietmar, Mieth (eds), The Cambridge Handbook of Human Dignity: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 222–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klemme, Heiner F. (2015) ‘“Die vernünftige Natur existirt als Zweck an sich selbst”: Überlegungen zu Oliver Sensens Interpretation der Menschheitsformel in der Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten ’. Kant-Studien, 106(1), 88–96.Google Scholar
Korsgaard, Christine M. (1996) Creating the Kingdom of Ends. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Louden, Robert B. (2011) Kant’s Human Being: Essays on his Theory of Human Nature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Regan, Donald H. (2002) ‘The Value of Rational Nature’. Ethics, 112(2), 267–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schönecker, Dieter (2015) ‘Bemerkungen zu Oliver Sensen, Kant on Human Dignity, Chapter 1’. Kant-Studien, 106(1), 68–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sensen, Oliver (2011) Kant on Human Dignity. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sensen, Oliver (2015) ‘ Kant on Human Dignity Reconsidered: A Reply to my Critics’. Kant-Studien, 106(1), 107–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sussman, David (2003) ‘The Authority of Humanity’. Ethics, 113(1), 350–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Timmermann, Jens (2006) ‘Value without Regress: Kant’s “Formula of Humanity” Revisited’. European Journal of Philosophy, 14(1), 69–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Timmermann, Jens (2007) Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals: A Commentary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wood, Allen W. (1999) Kant’s Ethical Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, Allen W. (2008) Kantian Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar