Creating the kingdom of ends: Reciprocity and responsibility in personal relations

Abstract

Drawing on an account of friendship common to Aristotle and Kant, I argue that personal relations are characterized by an expectation of reciprocity which is only possible between those who hold one another responsible. Holding someone responsible may be understood either as having a belief about her or as taking up a practical attitude towards her. If it is the latter we need practical reasons for holding people responsible. Kant’s ethical theory shows us what those reasons are. Holding ourselves and others responsible is a precondition for moral action, and so is what Kant calls a “postulate of practical reason.”