The Rational Demand of Kant's Ethics in the Beginning of 1760

• Main Author: Bruno Cunha
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina 2017-12-01
• Series: Ethic@: an International Journal for Moral Philosophy
• Subjects: ética; sentimento; razão; obrigação; jovem kant
• Online Access: https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/ethic/article/view/47494

My aim in this paper is to present a distinct interpretation of the moral problem in young Kant's major writings, namely, Preisschrift and Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and the Sublime. In contrast to the traditional reading, I will try to stress, that from analysis of the relation between the formal and material aspects of morality, we are able to verify that there is, indeed, underlying these writings, a rational demand of ethics. Therefore, we can remark that these writings, more than a mere reproduction of British morality, represent a moment of transition in which Kant frees himself from scholastic influence, to investigate in another way the primary concept of moral obligation.