Moral Feeling in Kant's Later Works

Abstract

In the Groundwork the feeling of respect aroused by the moral law is conceived as a pure feeling; it has nothing to do with feelings empirically aroused. This is also the case in Kant’s further critical works. In the Metaphysics of Morals and the Vigilantius notes, however, there are doubts about its purity, because we do not have full insight in our deepest motives. Therefore, although in principle remaining an incentive, in practice we have now to strive to make it an incentive by optimizing its purity.