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Physiology and the Controlling of Affects in Kant's Philosophy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2011

Maria Borges
Maria Borges
Affiliation:
University of Santa Catarina
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Extract

Kant is categorical about the relation between virtue and the controlling of inclinations:

Since virtue is based on inner freedom it contains a positive command to a human being, namely to bring all his capacities and inclinations under his reason's control and so to rule over himself. (MS, 6: 410)

Virtue presupposes apathy, in the sense of absence of affects. Kant revives the stoic ideal of tranquilitas as a necessary condition for virtue: ‘The true strength of virtue is a tranquil mind’ (MS, 6: 409). In the Anthropology and the Doctrine of Virtue, apathy is taken in the sense of freedom from affects. In these texts, Kant maintains that we must strive toward a state in which affects are absent.

Type
Articles
Information
Kantian Review , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , July 2008 , pp. 46 - 66
Copyright
Copyright © Kantian Review 2008

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