"Immanuel Kant and the Case of the Missing Duties: A Murder Mystery": Fred Rauscher, Michigan State

"Immanuel Kant and the Case of the Missing Duties: A Murder Mystery"Abstract: Kant, like all moral theorists, thinks that murder is a moral wrong, but where exactly is this specific duty found? Our search in the highly abstract Groundwork comes up empty. The clearest statement of ethical duties in the strict sense, the Doctrine of Virtue, with its focus on imperfect duties, also fails to even mention murder. Our search will find the prohibition of murder only in the Doctrine of Right, the other half of the Metaphysics of Morals generally considered only to be a work in political philosophy, not ethics. And just as all murder cases need a motive, this case will hinge on the motive for locating the duty against murder in the Doctrine of Right. The final plot twist will cause us to reimagine what had seemed a minor character in Kant's practical philosophy as in fact the central player.