A Study Of Kozgard 's New Kantian Constructivism

Christine M. Korsgaard, is a famous contemporary philosopher and ethicist in American, and also a leader of modern western Kant’s Ethics, and she is a PhD of Harvard University. She was the student of Rawls, a famous political philosopher, and now she teaches in the department of philosophy at Harvard. From the new-Kantian constructivism standpoint, she conducts a systematic interpretation of Kant’s ethics, and puts forward the unique "constructivism theory". The answer to moral normative, has always been the fundamental problem of moral philosophy that Realism and Constructivism focus on, They give the opposite answer from respective angle. However, Korsgaard tries to takes from the perspective of Kant’s ethics, which thinks that normative question is the reflection and identity of people about their self-identity.This paper starts with Korsgaard’s review of the origin and position of the realism, to clarify how Korsgaard criticized Realism on constructivist position. She points out that Realism can’t answer the normative question, and the difference of Constructivism and Realism is actually two different theories about the function of moral concepts. Then deals with Korsgaard’s constructivism methodology, thinks that the reflective or deliberate actor in the first person standpoint through constructing the solution of practical problems, to construct The reason for action, namely the foundation of moral obligation and moral value. Korsgaard interprets and reconstructs.Kant’s Formula of Humanity in some aspects, and on the basis of this, she demonstrated that Kant’s appeal to the self-discipline method is the best scheme of the source of normative questions. Human beings have the nature of rational reflection, which requires us to act out of reason, and it is the humanity identity that is practical identity that acting normative forces on our own. Though making human nature as the source of value, we must confer value upon our humanity as well as others. we have an obligation to each other, even we have an obligation to others and animals.Korsgaard’s new-Kantian constructivism offers an answer to the source of normative questions, which has an important significance to the moral normative.