Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Organism and Kingdom of Ends

In #65 of the Critique of Judgment, Kant defines an Organism, a concept of Reflective Judgment, as an entity in which "everything is a purpose and reciprocally also a means."  He also proposes in the Groundwork, that according to Reason, a member of the Kingdom of Ends is an end whenever it is a means.  Now, both an Organism and the Kingdom of Ends are comprised of a plurality of integrated parts.  However, as has been previously discussed, according to the comparison of Reason and Judgment that is presented in #40, only the latter entails the existence of a plurality of entities.  Thus, there are grounds for deriving the concept of the Kingdom of Ends from that of Organism, in which case it is a product of Reflective Judgment, not of Reason.

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