Kant's ethical standpoint and the problem of moral integrity

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to emphasize the importance of the problem of moral integrity in Kant's ethical teachings. First, we tried to locate the moral integrity within Kant's original teachings, considering its relationship to the notions of dignity, duty, respect and autonomy. In the wake of further conceptualization of the problem of moral integrity, particularly interesting seemed the issue of threats of moral integrity, which we illustrated. The second part of the paper is concerned with critics to charge that Kant does not provide a satisfactory treatment of the moral integrity of the individual because his insistence on impartiality. In response to critics, we offered a presentation of the main arguments of Barbara Herman, where she is trying to improve the Kantian position. Nevertheless, the focus of argumentation which attempts to defend Kant is on the suggestions made by Henning Jensen. His suggestions call our attention to a little known part of Kant's original text, which explicitly shows the existence of perfect duties to oneself. It is also argued that perfect duty to oneself is at the same time the duty of higher order, determined as the right of humanity in our own person. Jensen manages to find the possibility of establishing moral integrity within Kant's conception and to preserve the essential significance of moral law in Kant's ethics.