Kant and social sentiments

Herlinde Pauer-Studer

pp. 279-288

in: Herlinde Pauer Studer (ed), Norms, values, and society, Berlin, Springer, 1994

Abstract

The way in which the main part of contemporary moral philosophy presents itself has been questioned for some time now. The objections from communitarian and feminist philosophers have become especially prominent. A good deal of their criticism has been directed against Kant's moral theory and its successor models. Communitarians doubt the adequacy of Kant's definition of the moral point of view and his concept of the moral subject for empirical beings "embedded" in social contexts.¹ And feminist philosophers regard the strong emphasis on purely formal principles in most modern ethics, which is due to Kant's influence, as partly responsible for the fact that moral philosophers up to now have not properly considered what it means to include women among moral subjects, and have hardly addressed issues of women's discrimination.

Cited authors

Kant Immanuel