ABSTRACT
The purpose of Kant’s argument is to defend the rational and moral autonomy of three basic moral concepts against the claims of religious authority, and thereby to establish their independence and self-sufficiency. The first of the three concepts in question is the concept of the inborn capacity of man actually and effectively to will and to do what in the sincerity of his moral determination he sets out to will and to do. The second concept is the concept of ‘rightness’ as the essential quality of moral laws which are formulated on wholly rational grounds and are valid for all rational agents. The third concept is the concept of ‘rightness’ as the essential quality of wills and willed actions which conform to and are exclusively determined by moral laws. The sole point in pursuing this seeming futile argument is that some very practical results follow upon this splitting of metaphysical hairs.
