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Sexual Desire and the Importance of Marriage in K ant's Philosophy of Law
Author(s) -
Mertens Thomas
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
ratio juris
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.344
H-Index - 10
eISSN - 1467-9337
pISSN - 0952-1917
DOI - 10.1111/raju.12048
Subject(s) - morality , duty , statement (logic) , philosophy , epistemology , sociology , law , psychology , political science , theology
In his moral writings, K ant states that moral duty cannot be derived from “the special characteristics of human nature.” This statement is untenable if one takes seriously K ant's moral views on sexual desire. Instead close study reveals that considerations based on both morality and nature play a role here. The combination of these two elements leads to inconsistencies and difficulties in K ant's understanding of sexual desire, but they enable us to better understand the importance K ant attributes to marriage within his philosophy of law.