Principles of the Unification of our Agency

Bibliographic Data

ID8857968
AuthorsKlas Roth (0000-0001-5448-8302, Stockholm University, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume43
Issue3
Pages283-297
Publication date2010-03-22
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEducational Philosophy and Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-1857 • E-ISSN: 1469-5812
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1469-5812.2009.00597.x
OpenAlexW2031787122
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited12

Do we need principles of the unification of our agency, our mode of acting? Immanuel Kant and Christine Korsgaard argue that the reflective structure of our mind forces us to have some conception of ourselves, others and the world—including our agency—and that it is through will and reason, and in particular principles of our agency, that we take upon ourselves to unify and test the way(s) in which we make our lives consistent. I argue that the principles suggested—the hypothetical imperative and the categorical imperative—function to unify our understanding of ourselves and others as agents as efficacious and autonomous and that the extent to which those concerned render themselves efficacious and autonomous in cosmopolitan education or elsewhere is due to the extent to which they act in accordance with and are motivated by the suggested principles and in particular the categorical one. I first discuss how the principles function to unify our agency and how the categorical imperative functions as a test of maxims for our actions, how the will is the source of our morality, and how we are forced to have practical identities. I end with some remarks on what it means to acknowledge the mentioned principles in cosmopolitan education

Agency (philosophy · Categorical imperative · Epistemology · Function (biology · Morality · Sociology · Unification · Computer Science · Philosophy · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Religious Education and Schools

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