Research On The Issues Of Feeling In Kant's Moral Philosophy

Kant's moral philosophy has always had a purely rational appearance,which is closely related to the different attitudes of Kant's moral philosophy towards reason and feeling.Although reason lays the foundational position in Kant's moral philosophy and is the ultimate basis for judging moral good and evil,the complete understanding of Kant's moral philosophy must be based on two dimensions of reason and feeling.Feelings are also indispensable for understanding Kant's moral philosophy.Only through feeling,Kant's moral philosophy really develops the dimension of anthropology.If the moral law belongs to the common law of all rational beings,it is the ethical situation of the limited rational being that is manifested by feelings.Therefore,feeling is precisely the best cut-in point,so as to demonstrate Kant's ethical reflection on both rational and limited beings.Given that the feelings involved in Kant's moral philosophy are quite complex,can we clearly see the status and effects of various feelings only by putting feelings in the overall framework of Kant's moral philosophy,that is,by grasping the relationship between feelings and the overall goal of moral philosophy.From beginning to end,the goal of Kant's moral philosophy is to lay a foundation for moral metaphysics and construct moral metaphysics.This goal is to guide Kant's ethical thinking both in the pre-critical period and in the critical period.Therefore,the existence of all kinds of feelings is to serve the ultimate goal of constructing metaphysics.Since there is a dynamic development in Kant's moral philosophy,it is necessary to examine the different roles played by feelings and the different relations between feelings and reason in different stages of constructing moral metaphysics.In chronological order,Kant's moral philosophy can be divided into four stages,namely,the preparation,the foundation the completion of moral metaphysics,and the use of moral metaphysics with the expansion from morality to non-moral fields(Abbreviated as �use and extension� stage).The stage of preparation corresponds to Kant's pre-critical period,when Kant's moral thoughts are not yet mature and are still being explored.At this stage,Kant's moral thoughts were greatly influenced by Hutchison and Rousseau Successively,and his moral philosophy also showed a transition from sentimentalism to rationalism.From the stage of foundation,Kant's moral philosophy has entered a mature stage.In the foundation stage,although the moral metaphysics system has not yet been completed,the task of seeking the ultimate basis for morality has been first completed.Out of consideration for the foundation,this stage is the stage of Kant's most rejection of feelings,and only the sense of respect is valued.The main texts of this period are �Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals� and �Critique of Practical Reason�.The stage of completion mainly corresponds to Kant's last moral philosophy work �The Metaphysics of Morals�.Those moral feelings that were previously rejected or ignored are incorporated into moral metaphysics.They have a place in the framework of moral metaphysics,however,Kant makes a different explanation from the emotionalist ethics.In the end,moral metaphysics extended to non-moral fields from the perspective of a moral teleology,such as aesthetics,education,society,history,and religion.The entire world,including nature and human society,is unified under the moral teleology as a dynamic organic whole,wherein the non-moral feelings that can benefit human moral education have been affirmed to a certain extent by Kant.This article is divided into four chapters according to the four stages of Kant's moral philosophy.The first chapter deals with the feelings in Kant's moral philosophy during the pre-critical period,and the latter three deals with the feelings in the critical period.In general,there are three types of feelings that exist in the maturity period(last three stages)of Kant's moral philosophy: moral feeling as incentive,supportive moral feelings and non-moral feelings under moral teleology.Each type contains different kinds of feelings.Among them,the moral feeling as incentive has only a sense of respect in principle,but in a broad sense it also contains moral interest and conscience.Supportive moral feelings include conscience,love,sympathy,friendship,etc.They retreat from the position of the moral incentives that the sentimentists consider to serve as supporters and facilitators of incentive.Need to distinguish love,sympathy and friendship as moral feelings from them as natural feelings.Only the former can become a duty,and the latter can only exist as an indirect duty in the sense that it makes the former possible.The non-moral feelings under the moral teleology include aesthetic feelings,religious feeling(godliness)and some natural feelings,as well as love,sympathy,and friendship as natural feelings.Together,they promote human moral education under the perspective of a moral teleology.Each stage has a dominant type of feeling: the moral feeling as an incentive in the foundation stage,the supportive moral feelings in the completion stage,and the nonmoral feelings under the moral teleology in the use and expansion stage.This kind of arrangement is entirely a need for writing articles.In fact,in the later stages,it is always necessary to contain the preceding stages.Therefore,it contains the foundation stage at the stage of the completion of moral metaphysics,and the sense of respect is inevitably included.In the final use and expansion stage,the entire moral metaphysics emerged as a precondition.The first two kinds of moral feelings and the non-moral feelings under the moral teleology jointly promote the moral education of human beings.Since feeling is inextricably linked to the identity of the limited rational being and particularly embodies the characteristics of man as a limited rational being,therefore,the discussion of each type of feeling begins with a description of one aspect of the limited rational being.Corresponding to the three types of feeling,there are also three such depictions.The cores of three depictions are different.The first time is based on whether or not the reason fully determine the will.The second time is based on the radical evil of human nature.And the third time is based on the social nature of human beings.Three depictions are from the shallower to the deeper.And the later depiction also included the preceding depiction.Through the excavation of the emotional factors in Kant's moral philosophy,it can be said that Kant's moral philosophy is not as cold as people thought,and Kant's moral philosophy is feelingful.The �feelingful� here is in the double sense.The first is that there is more feelings than people imagined in Kant's moral philosophy.And the second is that under the cold coat of Kant's moral philosophy,there is still a warm heart filled with affection for humanity.Kant's limitation and use of feelings came from this warm heart.