Penultimate meeting of the SU22 ERG

The penultimate meeting of the SU22 ethics reading party is tomorrow at the usual time and place: 5:30pm 10 July on Zoom. Organizer Yahui Chen will lead the discussion of Thomas Hill’s paper ‘Kant on imperfect duty and supererogation‘, and has provided an abstract:

Although taken to be the supreme principle of morality, Kant’s categorical imperative guides conduct only by means of intermediate principles. These principles are divided into several types; and how a given principle can be justified and applied depends upon which type of principle it is. In discussing these divisions, this paper has a general aim and a special one. The general aim is to clarify and reconstruct some of Kant’s main distinctions among the types of duty and to show how, on Kant’s view, the moral worth of actions varies accordingly. The special aim is to show, on the basis of these distinctions, that Kant has a place in his moral scheme for supererogatory actions. Kant’s ethics is therefore less rigoristic than commonly thought. There is more room for choice in pursuing moral ideals, and not everything good is required.

This will be the third of three meetings/readings on Kantian ethics, and will give you a great opportunity to solidify your understanding of his axiological system. (If you are taking the Kant course this coming FA22, this would be a good opportunity to get ready to ramp up.) The final meeting of the SU22 ethics reading party will be next Sunday July 17th. The group will end with David Velleman’s (1999) paper in moral psychology, entitled ‘Love as a moral emotion‘. If you would like lead the discussion, please do volunteer!