ABSTRACT
Everybody reads Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals at some time in his philosophical formation, and almost nobody reads James Harris’s Three Treatises: the First Concerning Art, the Second Concerning Music Painting and Poetry, the Third Concerning Happiness. Harris is essentially a minor figure, and he has not been reprinted since his son’s handsome, posthumous edition of the Works published in 1801. Nevertheless the almost total neglect of Harris’s writings, though understandable enough, is to be regretted. There is one argument in the Dialogue Concerning Happiness, which throws considerable light on one of the most complex and intractable arguments in Kant’s Groundwork. Kant’s metaphysical deduction, which sets good will up as the absolute value and as reason’s end, parallels Harris’s argument about the Sovereign Good in a very striking way. David Hume's distinction is traditional enough: virtue’s value is her “charm”, and what we can hope to gain from the pursuit of virtue is “glory”.
