Kant on Love for Oneself: Why Respect for the Moral Law, But not the Desire for Happiness, is a moral incentive

Author

Lawrence Masek, Marquette University

Date of Award

Fall 2002

Document Type

Dissertation - Restricted

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Philosophy

First Advisor

Treloar, John L.

Second Advisor

Rossi, Philip

Third Advisor

Schmidt, Claudia M.

Abstract

After reading Kant's claim that only the moral law and respect for the moral law can motivate moral actions, readers sometimes caricature Kant's moral theory as a bizarre form of rule-fetishism that provides no good explanation of why people should act morally. This study challenges this caricature by defending the thesis that Kant correct!) maintains that acting morally always benefits the agent...