How is a categorical imperative possible? : Kant’s deduction of the categorical imperative (GMS, III,4)

Abstract

Kant’s deduction of the categorical imperative is the answer to the following question: “How is a categorical imperative possible?” The answer is given in subsection 4 (Sec. 4) of chapter three of the Groundwork. It is impossible to understand this answer, and hence impossible to understand Kant’s deduction of the moral law, without taking into account the overall context of Groundwork III (GMS III). However, here I can only sketch the overall structure of GMS III, and therefore only present a sketch of what I call Kant’s thesis of analyticity.1 This thesis is developed in Sec. 1 of GMS III; however, it appears time and again in GMS III, and it deserves special attention (part 1). Part 2, then, offers a close reading and analysis of Kant’s deduction.