The “Third Thing”

Abstract

Abstract This chapter argues that in Groundwork III, where Kant emphasizes that the free will is a kind of causality in accordance with immutable laws, the kind of causality that he has in mind is a teleological causality. To be autonomous is not just for me to be the efficient cause of my own action as opposed to having my action be determined by something external to my own reason. Instead, Kant’s “richer and more fruitful” idea of autonomy indicates that I am obligated to act on those maxims that I have self-legislated for the sake of myself, understood as a member of the intelligible world. What causes me to do what is right is the awareness that by doing so I am realizing my own necessary end. Accompanying such autonomous actions is what I call a feeling of “self-rightness.”