On The Dilemma Of Respect ——The Tension Between Reason And Emotion In Kant’s Ethics

Kant holds that the essence of “Moralit?t” is that the moral law alone and directly stipulates the will,that the rational fact is the ultimate basis of his ethics,and that no emotion can be the basis of moral behavior.But Kantalso clearly pointed out that "Achtung" as a moral emotion is the motive of pure practical reason,which creates the dilemma of respect: If adhere to the rational features required by moral values,respect as a moral motive can’t be explained;If respect is acknowledged as a moral motive,the rational character of good can not be maintained.In response to this question,two opposing explanation camps have emerged : intellectualism and affectivism,intellectualism hold that the emotional component of respect plays no role in the mechanism of moral motivation,affectivism holds that the emotion of respect plays a necessary role in moral practice.Both explanations have limitations:intellectualism fails to explain the moral execution problem of "how judgments and perceptions of morality directly drive agents to act".affectivism fail to explain clearly how the emotional aspect of respect plays a role in moral behavior without undermining moral values.By discussing Kant’s discussion of the role of rational pleasure and moral feeling,this paper argues that Kant did not exclude the participation of all emotions in moral practice,so this paper will defend for affectivism,and to solve the unresolved problem of emotionalism: to dispel the intellectualism’s worry that "any emotion will undermine the moral value".The key point is to explain the relationship between "emotion and freedom".This paper will show that Kant proves emotion is related to a purposive principle in a generally effective way through reflective judgment,the reflective judgment shows the possibility of reconciling the people’s capacity for desire with the moral law,and in the process,people realize that he can abandon his preferences and desires in the face of the lofty moral law and his lofty mission.The whole process embodies the spontaneity and subjectivity of the subject in the moral practice.It is the “respect” shows the power of this freedom and the existence of the subject’s super-sensibility,giving moral value to the behavior,and it is the condition for the establishment of moral subjectivity.