Kant, Ought Implies Can, the Principle of Alternate Possibilities, and Happiness

(Hardback)

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Throughout his corpus, Kant repeatedly and resolutely denies that there is a duty to promote ones own happiness, and most present-day Kantians seem to agree with him. In Kant, Ought Implies Can, the Principle of Alternate Possibilities, and Happiness, Samuel Kahn argues that this denial rests on two main ideas: (1) a conception of duty that makes the principle of ought implies can (OIC) and the principle of alternate possibilities (PAP) analytic, and (2) the claim that humans necessarily promote their own happiness. This book defends OIC and PAP but nonetheless attacks the second idea, and it supplements this attack with two additional argumentsan interpersonal one and an intrapersonal onefor the claim that a modern day Kantian ethics should affirm a duty to promote ones own happiness.

Reviews

Samuel Kahns book is a wide-ranging and provocative discussion of important issues in normative ethics, metaethics and moral psychology. It contains thoughtful and cogent discussions not only of Kant and the Kant literature, but also of contemporary treatments of the moral ought, responsibility and the place of happiness among human ends. Kahn provides an engaging introduction to all these themes. -- Allen Wood, Indiana University Bloomington
Samuel Kahn explores one of the most puzzling but under-theorized aspects of Kants ethics: the nature and moral importance of human happiness. Against most readings, Kahn contends that not only was Kant wrong to insist that a person could have no moral duty to promote her own happiness, but also that his own views entail that we do. Kahn brings Kants ethics into a sustained and illuminating conversation with the extensive contemporary literature on the relationship between obligation, blameworthiness, and the possibility of fulfilling (or failing to fulfill) the demands of morality. This encyclopedic work will be a valuable resource not just for those interested in Kants practical philosophy, but for anyone concerned with the moral significance of our physical and psychological limitations. -- David Sussman, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Author Bio

Samuel Kahn is associate professor of philosophy at Wuhan University.