General Ends that Are Also Duties

Abstract

This chapter covers Sections IV through VIII of Kant’s dedicated introduction to The Doctrine of Virtue. Section 1 of this chapter explains that for Kant the two general ends that one has a duty to adopt are self-perfection and the happiness of others. It continues in section 2 explaining Kant’s clarification of these two concepts. The distinction between duties of right and duties of virtue is the focus of section 3. This includes a proposal for how to understand Kant’s dual distinction between narrow and wide obligation on one hand and perfect and imperfect obligation on the other. Section 4 takes up Kant’s “exposition” of the duties of self-perfection and the happiness of others. The chapter concludes with a brief summary.