8th Workshop, June 6, 2017: "Normative Ethics in a Global Era: Kant’s Formal Ethics Reconsidered"

Topic: Normative Ethics in a Global Era: Kant’s Formal Ethics Reconsidered

Speaker: Dr Jiang Lu (Lecturer at the Dept. of Philosophy)

Moderator: Dr Rodrigues (Research fellow at the Dept. of Philosophy, Zhuhai)

Time: June 6th, 2017

Venue: Rm 114, No. 16 Building at Haibin Honglo

Abstract

Kant’s first formulation of the Categorical Imperative, “Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law” (AA IV 421/39), is called the Formula of Universal Law. The universality of which is described by Kant with an analogy to the law of nature, or more precisely, one ought to act as though his maxim were by his will to become a law of nature. It is the formal aspect of the latter i.e. the form of lawfulness which should serve as the type (Typus) for the application of practical reason in form of judgment. Now it is this formal aspect which should be taken into special consideration in my search for a normative ethics which should be applicable independently of cultural and national boundaries, as any normative ethics which provides us with a concrete set of norms will be suspicious of a disguised moral provincialism hidden behind its claim of universality. It is therefore the task of this talk to analyse the logical structure of Kant’s Formula and show in how far it could be the foundation of a genuine universal ethics.