How is a categorical imperative possible? : Kant’s deduction of the categorical imperative (GMS, III,4)

摘要

Kant’s deduction of the categorical imperative is the answer to the followingquestion: “How is a categorical imperative possible?” The answeris given in subsection 4 (Sec. 4) of chapter three of the Groundwork.It is impossible to understand this answer, and hence impossibleto understand Kant’s deduction of the moral law, without taking intoaccount the overall context of Groundwork III (GMS III). However,here I can only sketch the overall structure of GMS III, and thereforeonly present a sketch of what I call Kant’s thesis of analyticity.1 Thisthesis is developed in Sec. 1 of GMS III; however, it appears time andagain in GMS III, and it deserves special attention (part 1). Part 2,then, offers a close reading and analysis of Kant’s deduction.