“Closer to intuition (according to a certain analogy) and thereby to feeling”

Abstract

In his classic 1949 book, The Categorical Imperative: A Study in Kant’s Moral Philosophy, H. J. Paton refers to Kant’s kingdom of ends formula of the supreme principle of morality as “the most moving of all his principles” (p. 93). This remark reflects Kant’s claim in the Groundwork that this formula (as well as the formula of humanity) can serve to help bring moral concepts “closer to intuition (according to a certain analogy) and thereby to feeling” (4: 436). How this formula can have this effect raises questions about Kant’s moral psychology, including: How can the kingdom of ends formula figure in the psychology of individuals, and of what significance is it for community life? This chapter addresses the question about community by developing the symbolic relation in Kant’s work between his conception of a kingdom of ends and that of a “visible church” whose role in communal moral life is described in Kant’s Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason in which the significance of religious symbols can figure importantly in one’s psychology. It addresses the question about individuals by explaining some of the elements of Kant’s Doctrine of Method as expounded in the Critique of Practical Reason.