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Moral Sense Theory And The Development Of Kant's Ethics, Michael H. Walschots
Moral Sense Theory And The Development Of Kant's Ethics, Michael H. Walschots
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
This dissertation investigates a number of ways in which an eighteenth century British philosophical movement known as “moral sense theory” influenced the development of German philosopher Immanuel Kant’s (1724-1804) moral theory. I illustrate that Kant found both moral sense theory’s conception of moral judgement and its conception of moral motivation appealing during the earliest stage of his philosophical development, but eventually came to reject its conception of moral judgement, though even in his early writings Kant preserves certain features of its conception of moral motivation. In the mature presentation of his moral philosophy Kant offers detailed objections to moral sense …
The Modern Secularization Of Just War Theory And Its Lessons For Contemporary Thought, Aviva Shiller
The Modern Secularization Of Just War Theory And Its Lessons For Contemporary Thought, Aviva Shiller
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Just war theory is a family of views that has undergone many important changes throughout its development in the Western philosophical tradition. The following is an historical analysis of the transition from a religious to a secular conception of just war theory in the Early Modern period. My main argument is that the secularization of the theory led to the separation of jus ad bellum from jus in bello, a major change that had positive consequences on the theory and its application. One important consequence of this change was to place combatants on both sides of a conflict on …
Two Kinds Of Ends In Themselves In Kant’S Moral Theory, David Hakim
Two Kinds Of Ends In Themselves In Kant’S Moral Theory, David Hakim
2015 Undergraduate Awards
Immanuel Kant argues that rational beings are bound by an unconditional moral requirement to treat humanity always as an end and never as mere means. Kant derives this requirement from the principle that humanity is an end in itself. The purpose of my essay is to provide an interpretation of Kant’s concept of an end in itself that is consistent with the other features of his moral theory and that does not have morally repugnant consequences. To be consistent, Kant must identify a good will with an end in itself. I provide two independent arguments to demonstrate that this follows …