ABSTRACT
This chapter examines both the negative and positive role played by civil society in an individual's cultivation of virtue. Freedom is central to Kant's discussion of the transition from the state of nature to civil society as well. For Kant's practical philosophy to be successful, he must show that his theoretical principle is real and that individuals are motivated by it, otherwise, morality remains simply a "chimerical idea without any truth". Kant, therefore, needs a transition from his metaphysics of morals to his critique of practical reason, showing how a law of pure reason is able to apply in practice to the will. An individual whose actions are his own to determine is capable of being morally praiseworthy, assuming that he adopts the correct principles or maxims. Kant's assertion at Gr 4:397 that we can pass over these bad acts highlights his distinction between good acts and morally praiseworthy individuals.
