Joseph Payne (Mercer University): Publications - PhilPeople

Mercer University
Department of Philosophy

Adjunct Faculty (Part-time)

Macon, Georgia, United States of America

Areas of Interest

19th Century German Philosophy

8

Empirical Information and Kant's Moral Laws

Immanuel Kant claims that moral laws must hold for all rational beings universally and necessarily. In this thesis I first investigate Kant’s arguments against moral systems that are based on empirical information which can be found throughout his moral corpus. Then, I show that in Kant’s own moral system what moral laws there are is partially determined by empirical information and that this result presents a problem for the necessity and universality of morality. Further, I argue that contrary…Read more
Immanuel Kant claims that moral laws must hold for all rational beings universally and necessarily. In this thesis I first investigate Kant’s arguments against moral systems that are based on empirical information which can be found throughout his moral corpus. Then, I show that in Kant’s own moral system what moral laws there are is partially determined by empirical information and that this result presents a problem for the necessity and universality of morality. Further, I argue that contrary to what one might expect, Kant’s criticisms of an empirical foundation for morality do not resolve this issue and that it is unclear how Kant would respond to my critique.