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    Kant's Departure from Hume's Moral Naturalism

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    Author
    Saunders, Josiah Paul
    Date
    2007
    Permanent Link
    http://hdl.handle.net/10092/992
    Thesis Discipline
    Philosophy
    Degree Grantor
    University of Canterbury
    Degree Level
    Masters
    Degree Name
    Master of Arts

    This thesis considers Kant's departure from moral naturalism. In doing so, it explores the relationship between ethics, naturalism, normativity and freedom. Throughout this exploration, I build the case that Kant's ethics of autonomy allows us to make better sense of ethics than Hume's moral naturalism. Hume believes that morality is ultimately grounded in human nature. Kant finds this understanding of ethics limiting. He insists that we are free - we can critically reflect upon our nature and (to an extent) alter it accordingly. This freedom, I contend, renders the moral naturalist's appeal to nature lacking. Of course, a Kantian conception of freedom - some form of independence from the causal order - is fairly unpopular in contemporary circles. In particular, a commitment to naturalism casts doubt on such a notion of freedom. I argue with Kant that such a conception of freedom is essential to the conception of ourselves as rational agents. The critical turn, unlike naturalism, warrants this conception of freedom, accommodating the point of view of our rational agency. It thus allows Kant's ethics of autonomy to better grasp certain key elements of morality - normativity and our agency - than Hume's moral naturalism.

    Subjects
    Philosophy
     
    Kant (Immanuel)
     
    Hume (David)
     
    naturalism
     
    science
     
    ethics
     
    morals
     
    morality
     
    normativity
     
    agency
     
    freedom
     
    desire
     
    reason
     
    rationality
     
    autonomy
     
    heteronomy
     
    sympathy
     
    justice
     
    ends
     
    means
     
    ideal
     
    happiness
     
    duty
     
    right
     
    wrong
     
    inclination
     
    motive
     
    metaphysics of morals
     
    moral epistemology
     
    kingdom of ends
     
    Blackburn (Simon)
     
    Korsgaard (Christine)
     
    Allison (Henry)
     
    Darwall (Stephen)
     
    Förster (Eckart)
     
    Kuehn (Manfred)
    Collections
    • Arts: Theses and Dissertations [1450]
    Rights
    http://library.canterbury.ac.nz/thesis/etheses_copyright.shtml

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