The Study Of Kant’s Theory Of Happiness

The moral practice of contemporary human is being trapped in severe crisis, withrelativism becoming the mainstream. As a result of this, there is a lack of absolutelyreasonable and universally acknowledged moral authority, which proves to be thefundamental reason for the failure to address the disputes over moral theories incontemporary era. Thus, to seek objective and universal rule for moral practice andestablish moral authority can be said as the inevitable way out of contemporary moraltheories. Happiness, as pursued by all rational human beings in their limited life, playsa non-negligible role in this crisis. In view of this, this paper attempts to find apossibility for contemporary moral crisis by studying the happiness theory of Kant. Inthe first part, the author discusses on happiness teleology, virtue teleology, and thehighest good teleology according to the happiness thought in the history of westernphilosophy from the perspective of teleology. Then, on this basis, the author studiesthe criticism and inheritance of these three aspects by Kant’s happiness theory thatregards the highest good as the ultimate goal. In the second part, the major task is tofigure out the development context of the concept of happiness in Kant’s philosophy.Firstly, an exploration is made on the foundation based on which the concept ofhappiness is proposed, that is the establishment of human’s duality by Kant’s dualism.Secondly, the concept of happiness is explored from a negative perspective; that is tosay, in the relationship between happiness and the moral law, happiness is excludedfrom the moral law in pure form as only a criterion. On this basis, the antinomy ofpractical reason is introduced to explain the necessity of happiness for the limitedrational men as well as its status in the highest good from a positive perspective.Thirdly, the realization conditions of happiness are explored based on studying threepostulations of practical reason. According to the studies above, some problems needto be solved urgently. To address these problems, the third part presents correspondingsolutions. Firstly, why are we the limited rational men obliged to abide by the morallaw? In other words, what is the moral motive? Secondly, now that everyone isconscious of moral law a priori and directly, why do the morality and the immorality that are different largely from each other emerge? Fundamentally, is human naturegood or evil? Whether is education necessary in the viewpoints of Kant? Thirdly, inCritique of Practical Reason, Kant has explicitly pointed out that only in the kingdomof God, can human beings get access to happiness-eternal happiness. Then, is itpossible that human beings get happiness in real world? If yes, how should human getit? Finally, in the fourth part, the author analyzes the internal plight of Kant’shappiness theory and attempts to provide a possibility for the removal of these plightsto find a solution to the elimination of contemporary moral crisis.