Kant and the Ethics of Humility: A Story of Dependence, Corruption and Virtue

282 Pages·2005·1.43 MB·English

by  Jeanine Grenberg

KANT AND THE ETHICS OF HUMILITY
Inrecentyears,philosophershaveeitherignoredthevirtueofhumility
orfoundittobeinneedofradicalredefinition.Buthumilityisacentral
humanvirtue,anditisthepurposeofthisbooktodefendthatclaim
from a Kantian point of view. Jeanine Grenberg argues that we can
indeed speak of Aristotelian-style, but still deeply Kantian, virtuous
charactertraits.Sheproposesmovingfromfocusonactiontofocus
on person, not leaving the former behind, but instead taking it up
withinalarger,moresatisfyingKantianmoraltheory.Usingexamples
fromliteratureaswellasphilosophy,sheshowsthatthereisaKantian
virtue theory to be explored in which humility plays a central role.
HerbookwillhaveawideappealtoreadersnotonlyinKantstudies
butalsointheologicalethicsandmoralpsychology.
jeanine grenbergisAssociateProfessorofPhilosophyatSt.Olaf
College,Minnesota.

KANT AND THE ETHICS
OF HUMILITY
A Story of Dependence, Corruption, and Virtue
JEANINE GRENBERG
St.OlafCollege,Minnesota
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Firstpublished2005
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TypefaceAdobeGaramond11/12.5pt. SystemLATEX2ε [tb]
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
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Grenberg,Jeanine.
Kantandtheethicsofhumility:astoryofdependence,corruption,andvirtue/JeanineGrenberg.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferences(p.)andindex.
isbn0521846811(hardback)
1.Humility. 2.Kant,Immanuel,1724–1804–Ethics. i.Title.
bj1533.h93g74 2005
(cid:2)
1799–dc22 2004056824
isbn0521846811hardback
ToAnthony,theloveofmylife

Contents
Acknowledgments pageix
Introduction 1
part i kantian virtue
1 Dependentandcorruptrationalagency 15
2 ConstraintsonanypossibleKantianaccountofvirtue 49
3 AKantianaccountofvirtue 80
part ii a kantian response to recent accounts
of humility
4 AKantianresponsetorecentaccountsofhumility 107
part iii the kantian virtue of humility
5 TheKantianvirtueofhumility 133
6 Humilityandself-respect 163
7 Thehumbleperson 193
part iv the virtues of kantian humility
8 Thehumblepursuitofself-knowledge 217
9 Thehumblepursuitofrespectforpersons 242
Conclusion 252
References 259
Index 263
vii

Acknowledgments
Tryingtothankallofthepeopleandinstitutionswhohavecontributedto
thepublicationofthisbookseemsanimpossibletask.Butthenso,atone
time,didtheverypublicationofthisbook.So,withactualityastheproof
ofpossibilityonthelatterscore,Iendeavorheretoaccomplishtheformer,
thatis,toexpressmygratitudetothemanypersonsandinstitutionswithout
whomandwhichthisbookwouldnothavebeenpossible,oractual.
Nobitofthisbookoverlapswithmydissertation,butIcouldnothave
written this book without having engaged in that earlier project, a set of
reflectionsontheimportofKant’smoralfeelingofrespectforunderstand-
ing motivation to moral action. I am grateful to the Woodrow Wilson
Foundation for giving me a Charlotte Newcombe Fellowship to facilitate
completionofthatwork.IamgratefulalsotothosemembersoftheEmory
UniversityPhilosophyDepartmentwhohelpedtocreatealivelyandchal-
lengingintellectualenvironmentamidstdifficulttimes,andparticularlyto
RudiMakkreel,DonRutherford,TomFlynn,NickFotion,andPamHall.
The dissertation would not have become this book without Thomas
Hill’scapacityforenvisioningwhatwastryingtoemergefrommydisser-
tation work. I am grateful to him for suggesting to me, after reading one
of my dissertation chapters, that perhaps it was not so much “reason” or
“feeling”as“character”thatIwasreallyinterestedin.
The writing of the book itself was made possible by major grants from
theAmericanAssociationofUniversityWomenandtheAmericanCouncil
ofLearnedSocieties.Thetimeandspacethesegrantsgavemetolosemyself
in my own mind were absolutely critical for completion of my thoughts,
andIwillalwaysbegratefultotheseinstitutionsforthosegifts.
But empty time and space only take a writer so far. At some point, I
needed to share my ideas with others, and I have been very fortunate to
havemanypeople,frommanyandvariedplacesandphilosophicalpoints
ofview,takethetimetoreadandcommentonsectionsofthebook.Itmust
besaidthattheonlypeopletohavereadtheentirebookindraftformare
ix