格率とその｢枠組み｣ : カントの道徳判断論の新しい理解を目指して

Abstract

This paper focuses on a maxim and introduces an idea of "framework" of an agent's maxim into Kant's moral judgment. Criticism says that Kant's moral theory forces an agent to discard particular features of a situation and to act impartially and impersonally. However, he points out the need for the power of judgment sharpened by experience in order for morality to be realized in an agent's life. It is a maxim that reflects an agent's moral personality and point of view. The agent must formulate a maxim appropriately in order to use effectively the CI- procedure as a principle of judgment. "Framework" is essential to constructing a maxim. It enables the agent to see the need of moral deliberation, to select certain aspects of a situation and to describe morally significant features in the form of his maxim. Barbara Herman brings forward a supporting argument for such prerequisite and calls it the rules of moral salience ("RMS"). She argues that the ground of the "RMS" is in the conception of a person as an end in himself and that the "RMS" are not to be generated by the CI-procedure. It is true that the "RMS" are necessary devices that an agent uses in order to describe morally salient features of an action and a situation from his point of view. However, it seems inadequate that a judgment using the CI-procedure is unrelated to the "RMS". It is more correct to say that the "RMS" have room for modification and development by examining examples of an agent's judgment. The idea of "framework" of a maxim proposed here presents a new account of what the Kantian agent would be like. He has his unique way of perceiving situations, learns from experience and morally develops under some social and cultural tradition involving moral criteria.