Abstract

HARO, Vicente de. A defense of duties to oneself in Kant and some remarks on their reformulation in Fichte. Sig. Fil [online]. 2015, vol.17, n.34, pp.36-57. ISSN 1665-1324.

One of the most frequently criticized elements of Kant´s Metaphysics of Morals is the possibility of ethical duties to oneself. In this article I consider the most common arguments against these duties (from the standpoint of Utilitarianism) and I show how they can be refuted using Kant´s argumentation himself. Afterwards, I point out how Fichte, in his Doctrine of Morals, accepts the duties to oneself, but relocates them within the system of duties. Finally, I suggest that the fichtean reinterpretation emerges from a confusion over the role of the first-person moral agent in the Kantian ideal of the Kingdom of ends.

Keywords : Duties to oneself; Kant´s ethics; Fichte´s ethics; Kingdom of ends; utilitarianism.

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