oa Het onbegrensd verlangen naar houvast Gevoelens in de ethiek van Kant

The author analyses the role of feelings in the ethics of Kant. He comes to the conclusion that they are contradictory and miss psychological depth. One cannot have respect for duty in the Kantian sense and, at the same time, feel attracted to one’s fellow men. Respect for duty, as Kant describes it, is a psychological impossibility. Moreover duty cannot be an a priori experience because it depends on the fact that men are equal by nature. Kantian ethics are the result of philosophical presuppositions without taking account of the possibilities of human emotional life. They are dictated by his longing for absolute certainty.