The Metaphysics of Morals
Kant's 1797 systematic moral philosophy — Doctrine of Right and Doctrine of Virtue
Tradition: Critical-philosophical ethics / Kantian moral and legal philosophy
Kant's 1797 'Metaphysics of Morals' — systematic doctrine of right and doctrine of virtue
Published in 1797, 'Die Metaphysik der Sitten' is Kant's full systematic statement of moral philosophy, completing the project announced in the Groundwork (1785) — that the Groundwork was to be the foundation-laying work, the Metaphysics of Morals the systematic exposition. The book is published in two parts. The 'Doctrine of Right' (Rechtslehre) treats the system of external duties enforceable by law: private right (property, contract, family), and public right (state, international law, cosmopolitan right). Famous theses include the innate right to freedom, the system of natural property right that Kant grounds in the categorical imperative, and the detailed argument that the head of state cannot be deposed (against Locke). The 'Doctrine of Virtue' (Tugendlehre) treats internal duties — those of which only the agent can be the enforcer: duties to oneself (perfection, sincerity, self-respect), duties to others (beneficence, gratitude, friendship, sympathy). Together they complete the moral-philosophical project begun in the Groundwork and Critique of Practical Reason (1788). The book is more practical-applied than the foundational works: it contains Kant's treatments of marriage, capital punishment (he defends it on retributivist grounds), suicide (he forbids it), lying, sex, animals, and dozens of other applied-ethical questions. The book has been continuously read since its publication; the contemporary revival of Kantian moral philosophy (Korsgaard, O'Neill, Wood) draws heavily on the Metaphysics of Morals rather than just the Groundwork.
Author
Editions cited
- Die Metaphysik der Sitten, in zwey Theilen (Königsberg, Friedrich Nicolovius, 1797; 2nd ed. with additional appendix 1798)
- Akademie-Ausgabe vol. VI (Kant's Gesammelte Schriften)
- English trans. Mary Gregor, The Metaphysics of Morals (Cambridge, 1991); reprinted in Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant: Practical Philosophy (1996)
- Commentary: Allen Wood, Kant's Ethical Thought (Cambridge, 1999); Lara Denis (ed.), Kant's Metaphysics of Morals: A Critical Guide (Cambridge, 2010)
School Embodiments
Late-Critical systematic moral philosophy.
"Right is the sum of conditions under which the choice of one can be united with the choice of another under a universal law of freedom." (Metaphysics of Morals, Doctrine of Right, Introduction §B)
Defining late-Kantian ethical-systematic statement.
"Virtue is the strength of a human being's maxims in fulfilling his duty." (Doctrine of Virtue, Introduction §XIII)
Natural-law framework restated within the Critical philosophy.
"The principle of right is a priori, not empirical." (Doctrine of Right, Introduction)
Defining late-Kantian deontological-ethical statement.
"Duty is the necessity of an action from respect for the moral law." (Doctrine of Virtue)
Liberal-rights political philosophy in the Doctrine of Right.
"Innate freedom is independence from the constraining choice of another." (Doctrine of Right, Introduction)
Rationalist-philosophical method.
"A priori principles of right and virtue, derived from pure practical reason." (Metaphysics of Morals, Introduction)
Internal Tensions
Kant's full systematic ethics; together with the Groundwork and the second Critique, the canonical Kantian moral philosophy. The contemporary Kant-revival (Korsgaard, Herman, O'Neill, Wood, Hill) draws particularly on the applied-ethical material in the Doctrine of Virtue; the Doctrine of Right has been central to recent debates on Kant's political philosophy (Rawls, Pogge, Ripstein).
I. Time
1797 (with 1798 second edition adding the response to Friedrich Schlegel). Kant was 73 and increasingly frail; this is his last major systematic work.
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II. Space
Königsberg — Kant's permanent residence. The applied-ethical examples reflect late-eighteenth-century Prussian legal-social conditions (marriage law, military service, capital punishment as practised, etc.).
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III. Matter
Two-part systematic moral-philosophical treatise. The Doctrine of Right runs to ~150 pages; the Doctrine of Virtue to ~120 pages.
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IV. Observer
Late Kant. The observer-philosopher is positioned at the end of a fifty-year philosophical career, completing the systematic moral edifice that the Groundwork and the second Critique had announced.
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V. Energy
Late-systematic Critical-philosophical energies. The book is Kant's most architecturally-systematic work after the first Critique — a building completed to the foundations laid earlier.
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VI. Information
Single large volume with two parts. The internal structure is divisional-systematic: each part is divided into Introduction, Elements, and (for the Doctrine of Right) Public Right; each Element into theorems and corollaries.
Attributes
Personas that cite this work
Personas with the nearest attribute fingerprint
Historical figures whose own classification on the same six-dimensional grid lands closest to this work's. Computed by attribute-agreement on coordinates both address.
Computed school proximity
The work's attribute fingerprint scored against all schools using the same quiz scorer. Useful as a sanity check on the hand-curated embodiments above.
How The Metaphysics of Morals resolves each dilemma
50 resolved positions across 4 dimensions, including 9 distinctive where the majority of schools go the other way · 7 unaligned.
Each dimension is sorted so minority positions come first. Mainstream positions are folded into an expandable list.
Time · 9 dilemmas, all mainstream
Matter · 7 dilemmas · 5 distinctive
What stuff is — fundamental, relational, or appearance.
Observer · 37 dilemmas · 2 distinctive
Mind, agency, and the knower's relation to the known.