Lewis White Beck (1913-1997) on Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
Certainly warm-hearted fellow-feeling was not Kant’s dominant trait, and he does not appreciate it in others as much as Stoic characteristics of independence, moderation, self-control, coolness, reserve, propriety, fortitude, and the like. But none of these has genuine moral worth in the sense that the good will has it, though they are nonetheless constituents of the good life and the emotional ground upon which moral education must work; without them, duty is only a voice crying in a wilderness.
(Lewis White Beck, “Sir David Ross on Duty and Purpose in Kant,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 16 [September 1955]: 98-107, at 106 [footnotes omitted])
No Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.