University of Kansas, Fall 2003
Philosophy 672: History of Ethics
Ben Eggleston—eggleston@ku.edu

Assignment—Kant

Your assignment is either to take the test on Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals or to write a paper on that book. Note that, by the end of the semester, you must have taken tests on two of the four books in the course, and written papers on the other two.

You are welcome, though, to complete both of these assignments: to take the test and to write the paper. Then I’ll grade both of them and count whichever grade will help your overall grade more. This would be a good thing to do if you are nervous about either assignment and want a risk-free way of doing it and seeing what grade you would get. Here are the two options for Kant’s Groundwork.

I. Test

The test will be given in class on Wednesday, November 12, and will consist of 110 or 120 points’ worth of the questions numbered 22–35 in my lecture notes. You will be asked to select 100 points’ worth of questions and to answer them. (Please bring a blue book or some blank paper on which to write your answers.)

II. Paper

The paper option is to write a paper of not more than 2,000 words on either (1) one of the following topics or (2) some other topic that you would like to propose to me (in which case, just let me know, and we can discuss it). Your paper will be due in class on Friday, November 14.

  1. Question 23, from the notes (to be answered in a more comprehensive, detailed, and text-grounded way, of course)
  2. Question 29, from the notes, plus: Choose one of Kant’s other three examples of the application of the first formulation of the categorical imperative and assess the soundness of Kant’s application of his principle: does it, in the specific case you choose to examine, yield the verdict he claims it does? In answering this question you’ll need to consider which of the two kinds of contradiction Kant says is involved in the case you choose to examine, and to see whether that kind of contradiction (or not that one but the other one, or neither) really arises.
  3. Question 31, above, plus: How might Kant reply to challenges of this kind?
  4. Question 32, above, plus: How might Kant reply to challenges of this kind?

In writing your paper you are welcome to use resources beyond those used in class, but you do not need to do so. For additional suggestions about writing philosophy papers generally, see my “Guidelines for Writing a Philosophy Paper.”