Kant, Ought Implies Can, the Principle of Alternate Possibilities, and Happiness

Samuel Kahn

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2018
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781498519625
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Ethics & Moral Philosophy

Throughout his corpus, Kant repeatedly and resolutely denies that there is a duty to promote one's own happiness, and most present-day Kantians seem to agree with him. In Kant, Ought Implies Can, the Principle of Alternate Possibilities, and Happiness, Samuel Kahn argues that this denial rests on two main ideas: (1) a conception of duty that makes the principle of ought implies can (OIC) and the principle of alternate possibilities (PAP) analytic, and (2) the claim that humans necessarily promote their own happiness. This book defends OIC and PAP but nonetheless attacks the second idea, and it supplements this attack with two additional arguments—an interpersonal one and an intrapersonal one—for the claim that a modern day Kantian ethics should affirm a duty to promote one's own happiness.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Introduction
• Translation Note
• Part I: Ought Implies Can in Kantian Ethics
• Chapter 1: Terminology and Exegesis
• Chapter 2: Arguments in Favor of OIC
• Chapter 3: Objections to OIC
• Part II: The Principle of Alternate Possibilities
• Chapter 4: Setting the Stage
• Chapter 5: The Connection Between PAP and OIC
• Chapter 6: The Second Line of Defense: Rolling Back the Concession of PAP
• Part III: The Duty to Promote One’s Own Happiness in Kantian Ethics
• Chapter 7: “Happiness,” “General Duties,” and the Standard Account
• Chapter 8: The Means to Happiness, Indirect Duties, and Two Arguments for a Direct Duty
• Chapter 9: Objections
• Bibliography
• About the Author