Ethica Deceptrix: The Significance of Baumgarten’s Notion of a Chimerical Ethics for the Development of Kant’s Moral Philosophy

Ruffing, Margit; Almeida, Guido A. De; Terra, Ricardo R.; Rohden, Valerio

doi:10.1515/9783110210347.3.451

Cited by 18 publications

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“…See § 7. of his Ethica. On the concept of a chimerical ethics in Baumgarten and Meier see Thorndike, 2008 andDyck, 2012. The worry that his own ethical theory might be a 'phantasm' (Hirngespinst) or a 'chimera' pervades the second section of the Groundwork and is officially laid to rest only in the third.…”

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Autonomy, Progress and Virtue: Why Kant has Nothing to Fear from the Overdemandingness Objection

Timmermann

2018

Kantian rev.

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Is Kant’s ethical theory too demanding? Do its commands ask too much of us, either by calling for self-sacrifice on particular occasions, or by pervading our lives to the extent that there is no room for permissible action? In this article, I argue that Kant’s ethics is very demanding, but not excessively so. The notion of ‘latitude’ (the idea that wide duty admits of ‘exceptions’) does not help. But we need to bear in mind (i) that moral laws are self-imposed and cannot be externally enforced; (ii) that ‘right action’ is not a category of Kantian ethics – there is a more and a less, and lack of perfection does not entail vice; and (iii) that only practice makes perfect, i.e. how much virtue can realistically be expected can vary from agent to agent. The principle that ‘ought’ is limited by ‘can’ is firmly entrenched in Kant’s ethical thought.

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“…It is therefore unlikely to do much to dispel the overall worry of overdemandingness.5 See §7 of his Ethica. On the concept of a chimerical ethics in Baumgarten and Meier seeThorndike 2008 andDyck 2012. The worry that his own ethical theory might be a jens timmermann…”

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confidence: 99%