ABSTRACT
The epilogue takes preliminary steps to explore the complexity that follows from the recognition of understanding and the will as two distinct but interconnected domains of ethical work under the ideal of autonomy. The central new problem is that the ideal of autonomy pulls the subject in two opposite directions on these two domains, respectively. The ethical work of critique tends to disrupt and disunify the self when it leads one to revise some of the concepts one has relied on to understand oneself, including one's relations to others. On the other hand, the ethical imperative for self-unification is a staple of rationalist moral psychology. Christine Korsgaard, for instance, frames the ethical work of self-unification in terms of the integrity of a stable practical identity. Instead of attempting to eliminate the tension between unity and disunity in self-constitution, the epilogue argues that both poles indeed receive their ethical value from the ideal of autonomy. Therefore, navigating this tension will be an essential new task in the ethical landscape that recognizes the ethical significance of understanding alongside the will.
