Martin Sticker
Biographic Data
| ID | 459740 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Martin Sticker |
| GIVEN NAMES | Martin |
| FAMILY NAME | Sticker |
| SIGNATURE | STICKER M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Bristol |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4895-4359 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 30 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 24 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 30 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The Formula of Humanity and Mistreatment of Migrants
We argue that Kant’s Formula of Humanity (FH) should be expanded to provide a more nuanced analysis of complex real-world cases of mistreatment. Our specific focus is mistreatment of migrants. Migrants are not only mistreated due to their perceived instrumental value (as a mere means) but also by treating them as of no value (as a mere thing) or mistreating them due to perceived instrumental or intrinsic disvalue (as a mere threat). The well-know…
The Formula of Humanity and AI Use
Aylsworth and Castro have argued that, following Kant’s Formula of Humanity, using ChatGPT to write humanities essays constitutes a violation of a duty to cultivate one’s humanity. I first turn to a critical evaluation of their argument and then point to a further dimension in which the FH has a bearing on the ethics of AI use. My positive contribution is to propose that Kant’s Formula of Humanity can contribute to the ethics of LLM use when we f…
Kant on Being a Useful Member of the World and Universal Basic Income
I argue that there are Kantian grounds to endorse a Universal Basic Income (UBI) and that Kant’s practical philosophy can contribute to current debates about the ethics of UBI. I will make two points that mutually support each other. Firstly, there is a pro tanto argument for Kantians to work towards a UBI. A UBI, more so than conditional welfare schemes, enables agents to live up to their duty to be a useful member of the world. This should be c…
Kant on Bullshit Jobs—Mere Means and True Means
Following David Graeber's Bullshit Jobs , there has recently been academic and public discussion about useless work. Immanuel Kant maintains that we ought to be means for others and that there is a duty to be useful. Graeber and Kant are both concerned with a form of harm often overlooked in contemporary ethics and political philosophy, namely, enforced uselessness. The phenomenon of bullshit jobs can help us understand better what it means to ha…
Why we go wrong
Kant holds that whenever we fail to act from duty, we are driven by self-love. In this paper, we argue that there are a variety of different ways in which people go wrong, and we show why it is unsatisfying to reduce all of these to self-love. In doing so, we present Kant with five cases of wrongdoing that are difficult to account for in terms of self-love. We end by suggesting a possible fix for Kant, arguing that he should either accept a plura…
Treating as a Mere Enemy
I argue that Kant's Formula of Humanity should incorporate the category of treating as a mere enemy in the form of a strict prohibition against this form of mistreatment. My proposed expansion will allow Kantian ethics to account for persons being mistreated due to their instrumental disvalue or perceived danger. Treating persons as mere enemies can take the form of murder and genocide, but also of exclusion and marginalization. I explain why we …
Procreative Prerogatives and Climate Change
One of the most provocative claims in current climate ethics is that we ought to have fewer children, because procreation brings new people into existence and thereby causes large amounts of additional greenhouse gas emissions. The public debate about procreation and climate change is frequently framed in terms of the question of whether people may still have any children at all. Yet in the academic debate it is a common position that, despite th…
Kant and Overdemandingness II
In this paper, we consider how demandingness objections pertain to perfect duties in Kantian ethics. We revisit the framework of demandingness that we introduced in a previous paper, before introducing three cases that have been suggested to constitute problems for Kant, specifically regarding perfect duties. We argue that some of these cases do constitute problems for the Kantian framework, but the complaint of overdemandingness obfuscates other…
Kant on the Normativity of Obligatory Ends
I propose a novel way to understand the stringency of Kant’s conception of beneficence. This novel understanding can ground our intuition that we do not have to forego (almost) all pursuit of our personal ends. I argue that we should understand the application of imperfect duties to specific cases according to the framework set by the adoption and promotion of ends. Agents have other ends than obligatory ones and they must weigh obligatory ends a…
Working Oneself Up and Universal Basic Income
I respond to a challenge raised by Jordan Pascoe: Kant’s conception of obtaining full citizenship through working oneself up necessarily condemns some people to passive citizenship. I argue that we should not focus on work to establish universal full citizenship. Rather, a Universal Basic Income, an income paid regularly to everyone and without conditions, can secure everyone’s full citizenship. Moreover, I argue that such a scheme is more Kantia…
Kant and Overdemandingness I
The Overdemandingness Objection maintains that an ethical theory or principle that demands too much should be rejected, or at least moderated. Traditionally, overdemandingness is considered primarily a problem for consequentialist ethical theories. Recently, Kant and Kantian ethics have also become part of the debate. This development helps us better understand both overdemandingness and problems with Kant's ethics. In this, the first of a pair o…
Poverty, Exploitation, Mere Things and Mere Means
I argue that, alongside the already well-established prohibition against treating persons as mere means, Kant’s Formula of Humanity requires a prohibition against treating persons as mere things. The former captures ethical violations due to someone’s (perceived) instrumental value, e.g. exploitation, the latter captures cases in which I mistreat others because they have no instrumental value to me. These are cases in which I am indifferent and c…
A merely national ‘universal’ basic income and global justice
True Need in Kant
A number of influential Kantian philosophers assume that true need (wahres Bedürfniß) represents shared and fundamental human concerns that can both ground duties of aid and limit how much an agent can be morally required to do for others. In this paper, I take on this misreading and argue that true need is representative of personal priorities. This subjectivist reading fits better with Kant’s own characterization of true need and with his conce…
Procreation, Footprint and Responsibility for Climate Change
Several climate ethicists have recently argued that having children is morally equivalent to over-consumption, and contributes greatly to parents’ personal carbon footprints. We show that these claims are mistaken, for two reasons. First, including procreation in parents’ carbon footprints double-counts children’s consumption emissions, once towards their own, and once towards their parents’ footprints. We show that such double-counting defeats t…
Parfit’s Mixed Maxim Objection against the Formula of Universal Law Reconsidered
In On What Matters, Derek Parfit seeks to show that disagreement between three of the most important ethical theories can be overcome and that these theories, insofar as they are defensible, converge in a unified "Triple Theory". One of the central steps in his argument is to show that a revised version of Kant's Formula of Universal Law (hereafter FUL) is defensible and that its application yields the same moral principles as defensible versions…
Kant on education and improvement
Whilst Kant is one of the most influential figures in the history of philosophy and was also, in his own time, an important theorist of education, he is sometimes regarded with suspicion by contemporary educational theorists. His philosophy, it is often maintained, is fraught with problematic dualisms and other familiar confusions of the Enlightenment that are obstacles to cogent educational theory and liberatory pedagogical practice. At the same…
Kant on thinking for oneself and with others—the ethical a priori, openness and diversity
Immanuel Kant famously wants us to think for ourselves. However, thinking collaboratively is often preferable to solitary thinking, especially in educational contexts. In this paper, I argue that Kant does not advocate a problematic form of epistemic or pedagogical individualism. For my argument, I focus on the area that, one might suspect, lends itself the least to collaborative reasoning on Kant's framework: morality founded in rational a prior…
Moral Education and Transcendental Idealism
In this paper, we draw attention to several important tensions between Kant’s account of moral education and his commitment to transcendental idealism. Our main claim is that, in locating freedom outside of space and time, transcendental idealism makes it difficult for Kant to both provide an explanation of how moral education occurs, but also to confirm that his own account actually works. Having laid out these problems, we then offer a response…
Kant, Eudaimonism, Act-Consequentialism and the Fact of Reason
Kant considers eudaimonism as his main opponent and he assumes that his ethics is the only viable alternative to eudaimonism. He does not explicitly address theories differing from both eudaimonism and from his own. I argue that whilst Kant and Act-Consequentialists advocate different normative principles, their positions share the important abstract feature that they establish what is to be done from a rational principle and not based on what is…
The Case against Different-Sex Marriage in Kant
Recently, a number of Kantians have argued that despite Kant’s own disparaging comments about same-sex intercourse and marriage, his ethical and legal philosophy lacks the resources to show that they are impermissible. I go further by arguing that his framework is in fact more open to same-sex than to different-sex marriage. Central is Kant’s claim that marriage requires equality between spouses. Kant himself thought that men and women are not eq…
Kant and the demandingness of the virtue of beneficence
We discuss Kant's conception of beneficence against the background of the overdemandingness debate. We argue that Kant's conception of beneficence constitutes a sweet spot between overdemandingness and undemandingness. To this end, we defend four key claims that together constitute a novel interpretation of Kant's account of beneficence: (1) For the same reason that we are obligated to be beneficent to others, we are permitted to be beneficent to…
Kant and the Problem of Demandingness
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Moral Rationalism and Demandingness in Kant
We discuss Kant’s conception of moral rationalism from the viewpoint of recent debates, which have distinguished different forms of moral rationalism. We argue that Kant’s version, ‘silencing’, is different and stronger than currently held versions of moral rationalism and that it also differs from versions of silencing that contemporary thinkers advocate. We then discuss Kant’s version of silencing in the context of the moral demandingness debat…
The Demandingness of Beneficence and Kant’s System of Duties
This paper contributes to the discussion of the moral demandingness of Kantian ethics by critically discussing an argument that is currently popular among Kantians. The argument from the system of duties holds that (a) in the Kantian system of duties the demandingness of our duty of beneficence is internally moderated by other moral prescriptions, such as the indirect duty to secure happiness, duties to oneself and special obligations. Furthermor…
Kant and Moral Demandingness
Kant and the demandingness of the virtue of beneficence
We discuss Kant's conception of beneficence against the background of the overdemandingness debate. We argue that Kant's conception of beneficence constitutes a sweet spot between overdemandingness and undemandingness. To this end, we defend four key claims that together constitute a novel interpretation of Kant's account of beneficence: (1) For the same reason that we are obligated to be beneficent to others, we are permitted to be beneficent to…
Kant on education and improvement
Whilst Kant is one of the most influential figures in the history of philosophy and was also, in his own time, an important theorist of education, he is sometimes regarded with suspicion by contemporary educational theorists. His philosophy, it is often maintained, is fraught with problematic dualisms and other familiar confusions of the Enlightenment that are obstacles to cogent educational theory and liberatory pedagogical practice. At the same…
Kant's Criticism of Common Moral Rational Cognition
There is a consensus that Kant's aim in the Groundwork is to clarify, systematize and vindicate the common conception of morality. Philosophical theory hence serves a restorative function. It can strengthen agents' motivation, protect against self‐deception and correct misunderstandings produced by uncritical moral theory. In this paper, I argue that Kant also corrects the common perspective and that Kant's Groundwork shows in which senses the co…
Kant on thinking for oneself and with others—the ethical a priori, openness and diversity
Immanuel Kant famously wants us to think for ourselves. However, thinking collaboratively is often preferable to solitary thinking, especially in educational contexts. In this paper, I argue that Kant does not advocate a problematic form of epistemic or pedagogical individualism. For my argument, I focus on the area that, one might suspect, lends itself the least to collaborative reasoning on Kant's framework: morality founded in rational a prior…
Kant and Overdemandingness I
The Overdemandingness Objection maintains that an ethical theory or principle that demands too much should be rejected, or at least moderated. Traditionally, overdemandingness is considered primarily a problem for consequentialist ethical theories. Recently, Kant and Kantian ethics have also become part of the debate. This development helps us better understand both overdemandingness and problems with Kant's ethics. In this, the first of a pair o…
A merely national ‘universal’ basic income and global justice
How can Common Rational Capacities Confirm the Correctness of the Deduction in Groundwork III—and Why does it Matter
Kant claims in Groundwork IV:454 that the correctness of his complex philosophical deduction is confirmed by the ‘practical use of common human reason’. My paper discusses how this confirmation is possible, and why it is important for Kant’s project in the Groundwork . I argue that agents without philosophical training consider an intelligible standpoint, which is one of the central elements of the deduction, to be possible (i), that they take up…
Kant and Moral Demandingness
When the Reflective Watch-Dog Barks
Kant's Criticism of Common Moral Rational Cognition
There is a consensus that Kant's aim in the Groundwork is to clarify, systematize and vindicate the common conception of morality. Philosophical theory hence serves a restorative function. It can strengthen agents' motivation, protect against self‐deception and correct misunderstandings produced by uncritical moral theory. In this paper, I argue that Kant also corrects the common perspective and that Kant's Groundwork shows in which senses the co…
The Limits of Moral Authority
[no abstract]
Kant and the Problem of Demandingness
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Moral Rationalism and Demandingness in Kant
We discuss Kant’s conception of moral rationalism from the viewpoint of recent debates, which have distinguished different forms of moral rationalism. We argue that Kant’s version, ‘silencing’, is different and stronger than currently held versions of moral rationalism and that it also differs from versions of silencing that contemporary thinkers advocate. We then discuss Kant’s version of silencing in the context of the moral demandingness debat…
The Demandingness of Beneficence and Kant’s System of Duties
This paper contributes to the discussion of the moral demandingness of Kantian ethics by critically discussing an argument that is currently popular among Kantians. The argument from the system of duties holds that (a) in the Kantian system of duties the demandingness of our duty of beneficence is internally moderated by other moral prescriptions, such as the indirect duty to secure happiness, duties to oneself and special obligations. Furthermor…
Kant and the demandingness of the virtue of beneficence
We discuss Kant's conception of beneficence against the background of the overdemandingness debate. We argue that Kant's conception of beneficence constitutes a sweet spot between overdemandingness and undemandingness. To this end, we defend four key claims that together constitute a novel interpretation of Kant's account of beneficence: (1) For the same reason that we are obligated to be beneficent to others, we are permitted to be beneficent to…
Moral Education and Transcendental Idealism
In this paper, we draw attention to several important tensions between Kant’s account of moral education and his commitment to transcendental idealism. Our main claim is that, in locating freedom outside of space and time, transcendental idealism makes it difficult for Kant to both provide an explanation of how moral education occurs, but also to confirm that his own account actually works. Having laid out these problems, we then offer a response…
Kant, Eudaimonism, Act-Consequentialism and the Fact of Reason
Kant considers eudaimonism as his main opponent and he assumes that his ethics is the only viable alternative to eudaimonism. He does not explicitly address theories differing from both eudaimonism and from his own. I argue that whilst Kant and Act-Consequentialists advocate different normative principles, their positions share the important abstract feature that they establish what is to be done from a rational principle and not based on what is…
The Case against Different-Sex Marriage in Kant
Recently, a number of Kantians have argued that despite Kant’s own disparaging comments about same-sex intercourse and marriage, his ethical and legal philosophy lacks the resources to show that they are impermissible. I go further by arguing that his framework is in fact more open to same-sex than to different-sex marriage. Central is Kant’s claim that marriage requires equality between spouses. Kant himself thought that men and women are not eq…
Procreation, Footprint and Responsibility for Climate Change
Several climate ethicists have recently argued that having children is morally equivalent to over-consumption, and contributes greatly to parents’ personal carbon footprints. We show that these claims are mistaken, for two reasons. First, including procreation in parents’ carbon footprints double-counts children’s consumption emissions, once towards their own, and once towards their parents’ footprints. We show that such double-counting defeats t…
Parfit’s Mixed Maxim Objection against the Formula of Universal Law Reconsidered
In On What Matters, Derek Parfit seeks to show that disagreement between three of the most important ethical theories can be overcome and that these theories, insofar as they are defensible, converge in a unified "Triple Theory". One of the central steps in his argument is to show that a revised version of Kant's Formula of Universal Law (hereafter FUL) is defensible and that its application yields the same moral principles as defensible versions…
Kant on education and improvement
Whilst Kant is one of the most influential figures in the history of philosophy and was also, in his own time, an important theorist of education, he is sometimes regarded with suspicion by contemporary educational theorists. His philosophy, it is often maintained, is fraught with problematic dualisms and other familiar confusions of the Enlightenment that are obstacles to cogent educational theory and liberatory pedagogical practice. At the same…
Kant on thinking for oneself and with others—the ethical a priori, openness and diversity
Immanuel Kant famously wants us to think for ourselves. However, thinking collaboratively is often preferable to solitary thinking, especially in educational contexts. In this paper, I argue that Kant does not advocate a problematic form of epistemic or pedagogical individualism. For my argument, I focus on the area that, one might suspect, lends itself the least to collaborative reasoning on Kant's framework: morality founded in rational a prior…
True Need in Kant
A number of influential Kantian philosophers assume that true need (wahres Bedürfniß) represents shared and fundamental human concerns that can both ground duties of aid and limit how much an agent can be morally required to do for others. In this paper, I take on this misreading and argue that true need is representative of personal priorities. This subjectivist reading fits better with Kant’s own characterization of true need and with his conce…
Poverty, Exploitation, Mere Things and Mere Means
I argue that, alongside the already well-established prohibition against treating persons as mere means, Kant’s Formula of Humanity requires a prohibition against treating persons as mere things. The former captures ethical violations due to someone’s (perceived) instrumental value, e.g. exploitation, the latter captures cases in which I mistreat others because they have no instrumental value to me. These are cases in which I am indifferent and c…
A merely national ‘universal’ basic income and global justice
Kant on the Normativity of Obligatory Ends
I propose a novel way to understand the stringency of Kant’s conception of beneficence. This novel understanding can ground our intuition that we do not have to forego (almost) all pursuit of our personal ends. I argue that we should understand the application of imperfect duties to specific cases according to the framework set by the adoption and promotion of ends. Agents have other ends than obligatory ones and they must weigh obligatory ends a…
Working Oneself Up and Universal Basic Income
I respond to a challenge raised by Jordan Pascoe: Kant’s conception of obtaining full citizenship through working oneself up necessarily condemns some people to passive citizenship. I argue that we should not focus on work to establish universal full citizenship. Rather, a Universal Basic Income, an income paid regularly to everyone and without conditions, can secure everyone’s full citizenship. Moreover, I argue that such a scheme is more Kantia…
Kant and Overdemandingness I
The Overdemandingness Objection maintains that an ethical theory or principle that demands too much should be rejected, or at least moderated. Traditionally, overdemandingness is considered primarily a problem for consequentialist ethical theories. Recently, Kant and Kantian ethics have also become part of the debate. This development helps us better understand both overdemandingness and problems with Kant's ethics. In this, the first of a pair o…
Kant on Being a Useful Member of the World and Universal Basic Income
I argue that there are Kantian grounds to endorse a Universal Basic Income (UBI) and that Kant’s practical philosophy can contribute to current debates about the ethics of UBI. I will make two points that mutually support each other. Firstly, there is a pro tanto argument for Kantians to work towards a UBI. A UBI, more so than conditional welfare schemes, enables agents to live up to their duty to be a useful member of the world. This should be c…
Kant on Bullshit Jobs—Mere Means and True Means
Following David Graeber's Bullshit Jobs , there has recently been academic and public discussion about useless work. Immanuel Kant maintains that we ought to be means for others and that there is a duty to be useful. Graeber and Kant are both concerned with a form of harm often overlooked in contemporary ethics and political philosophy, namely, enforced uselessness. The phenomenon of bullshit jobs can help us understand better what it means to ha…
Why we go wrong
Kant holds that whenever we fail to act from duty, we are driven by self-love. In this paper, we argue that there are a variety of different ways in which people go wrong, and we show why it is unsatisfying to reduce all of these to self-love. In doing so, we present Kant with five cases of wrongdoing that are difficult to account for in terms of self-love. We end by suggesting a possible fix for Kant, arguing that he should either accept a plura…
Philosophical Ethics and Theory (23 works) · Epistemology (21 works) · Philosophy (20 works) · Political Philosophy and Ethics (16 works) · Political science (16 works) · Sociology (14 works) · War, Ethics, and Justification (13 works) · Law (12 works) · Free Will and Agency (11 works) · Philosophy (9 works)