Could Kant have been a utilitarian?

Abstract

My aim in this paper is to ask a question, not to answer it. To answer it with confidence would require more concentrated study of Kant’s text than I have yet had time for. I have read his main ethical works, and formed some tentative conclusions which I shall diffidently state. I have also read some of his Englishspeaking disciples and would-be disciples, but not, I must admit, any of his German expositors except Leonard Nelson. My purpose in raising the question is to enlist the help of others in answering it.