Das höchste Gut: Kants Eudämonismus unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Jahre 1781-85

Kant’s theory of the Highest Good has often been criticised as eudemonist or heteronomous. The paper first shows that Kant explicitly differentiated between Eudemonia and Heteronomy. It then analyses separately the two criticisms referred to. According to the analysis provided in the paper, the only criticism that must be accounted for, within the defined terminological framework, is that of heteronomy. The third part of the paper proposes an interpretation of Kant’s ethics which aims to prove that such criticism is not well-founded. The final section of the paper assesses Kantian eudemonism within the context of Stoicism and Epicureanism as Kant’s sources.