Value without regress: Kant's 'formula of humanity' revisited

Abstract

This paper contains a critical discussion of Christine Korsgaard’s account of Kant’s philosophy of value, as well as a reconstruction of the concept of a ‘rational nature’. It is argued that there is no regress towards the unconditioned at Groundwork 428, but merely a survey of candidates for the status of an objective end. Kant (wisely) does not hold the view that it is a subject’s conferring value upon the objects of choice that makes him or her special. Moreover, different sources of value must be clearly distinguished. Korsgaard’s reconstruction blurs Kant’s sharp distinction between moral and nonmoral kinds of goodness.