Sunday, March 9, 2014

Practical Reason, Sufficiency, Consistency

Ostensibly, Kant's Principle of Pure Practical Reason is a Principle of Non-Contradiction--an interpretation encouraged by his characterization, in the 294-5 of the Critique of Judgment, of Consistency as the highest Rational value--that, via a Categorical Syllogism, forbids action that entails an inconsistency.  However, on closer examination, his formula can be recognized as a Practical Principle of Sufficient Reason, designed, first, to introduce the possibility of resisting an inclination, and, then, to adjudicate between resistance and non-resistance, by demonstrating that the latter leads to an inconsistency.  In other words, the PPPR is essentially a Disjunctive Syllogism, in which a Contradiction is a factor in the determination of the Minor Premise, not one in that of the Conclusion.  Thus, Consistency is subordinated to Sufficiency in the PPPR.  Any confusion over his priorities in his presentation of it likely originates in his attempt to reconcile autonomous Reason with a conventional Morality that demands unconditional obedience.

No comments:

Post a Comment