Ivan Kolev
In Groundworks of the The metaphysics of morals (1785), Kant introduces the notion of the “kingdom/realm of ends” (“Reich der Zwecke”). It is one of the concepts that justify and confirm the inclusion of the term metaphysics in a treatise on ethics.
According to Kant’s definition of an end in the Critique of the Faculty of Judgment, “the concept of an object, insofar as it at the same time contains the ground of the reality of that object, is called an end” (Critique of the Power of Judgment, 68, 5:181). Without the notion of purpose, we cannot think of the will as a “faculty of self-determination.” The will is not a faculty that can be affirmed by an external object, and therefore it is “another beginning.” That which is the self as a fully spontaneous apperception in the theoretical perspective of cognition is the will in the practical perspective of human activity. With it begins a second-order causality, an unnatural causality.
Will is another name for practical reason, or to put it another way, reason as practical is will. In theoretical terms, the common, objective thing in knowledge is truth, which is characterized by universality and necessity. In practical terms, the common is a community of rational beings made up not of natural elements but of ends. The common ends of a community of rational beings are binding on the community, and thus a “systematically connected totality” is formed, which Kant calls the “kingdom of ends” (“Reich der Zwecke,” Groundwork of a The metaphysics of morals, p. 83, 4:432).
Since every end is an expression of free self-imposition, we can see in this kingdom a resonance of debates in political philosophy about the “social contract” (Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau). Unlike the political social contract, however, Kant’s moral social contract does not presuppose a real mobilization of human beings for its realization. The kingdom of ends is a theoretical idea to be explained, not a practical idea to be realized (Groundwork of a The metaphysics of morals, p. 86, 4:437). The social contract leads ultimately to a constitution as the basis of positive law, and the “realm of ends” leads only to moral universality of maxims.
Another analogy between the “social contract” and the “kingdom of ends” can be seen in the direct use of political terms (ruler-subordinate). Kant states that rational beings belong to the “realm of ends” both as rulers, insofar as they make the laws, and as subjects of those laws. In the realm of ends, each member has an equal duty. In this thesis of Kant, the long historical process of the monarch’s becoming a juridical subject has an analogy not only in the renunciation not only of objective and ultimate ends in nature, but also in the renunciation of presupposed substantive ultimate ends in morality (the renunciation of happiness as a moral end, or the renunciation of theosis).
Here Kant makes another radical move. Having broken with purposiveness in nature and left only objective causality in it, he seems to perform a kind of rehabilitation of nature when he states that “morality regards the ‘realm of ends’ as the ‘realm of nature'” (Groundwork of a The metaphysics of morals, p. 86, 4:437). We can interpret the hermeneutic as in an integrative-holistic sense. The realm of ends in morality, which is based on maxims, and that of nature as based on causal laws, are analogous with respect especially to the integrity of the elements in the whole. Just as causality in a phenomenon does not violate general causality in nature, so the ends which the will sets for itself as practical reason are moral, i.e., can be integrated into the whole of morality only if they have the universality required by the categorical imperative.
The analogy between the two “kingdoms” can also be interpreted as an expression of the synthetic harmony of the human being in morality. In turn, this harmony recalls the synthetic incorporation of appearance and concepts into cognition as its indispensable elements.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary
Kant, Immanuel (1900-) Akademie-Ausgabe. Berlin [AA].
Kant, Immanuel (1977) Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten.– In: Werkausgabe, Band VIII. Hrsg. von Wilhelm Weischedel. Suhrkamp.
Kant, Immanuel (1996) Groundwork of The metaphysics of morals, in Kant (1996) Practical philosophy. Cambridge University Press.
Kant, Immanuel (1996) Critique of practical reason, in Kant (1996) Practical philosophy. Cambridge University Press.
Kant, Immanuel (1977) Kritik der praktischen Vernunft.– In: Werkausgabe, Band VIII. Hrsg. von Wilhelm Weischedel. Suhrkamp.
Kant, Immanuel (1977) Metaphysik der Sitten.– In: Werkausgabe, Band VIII. Hrsg. von Wilhelm Weischedel. Suhrkamp.
Kant, Immanuel (1996) The metaphysics of morals, in Kant (1996) Practical philosophy. Cambridge University Press.
Secondary
Guyer, Paul (2006) Kant. Routledge.
Korsgaard, Christine M. (1996) Creating the Kingdom of Ends. Cambridge University Press.
Rawls, John (2000) Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy. Harvard University Press.
Wood, Allen W. (2008) Kantian Ethics. Cambridge University Press.
How to Cite:
Kolev, Ivan (2022) Thesaurus. Sofia Dictionary of Philosophy. Online edition. Sofia: St. Kliment Ohridski University Press, 2021, ISSN 2815-2832.