Themes in von Herbert's letters to Kant

: deception, happiness and meaning

Abstract

In the late eighteenth century, a young Austrian woman named Maria von Herbert, member of a philosophical circle in Klagenfurt at the house of her and her brother, corresponded with Immanuel Kant. She wrote a total of three letters to Kant, of which the last two remained unanswered. The aim of this thesis is to show that their correspondence not only sheds light on contentious topics in Kant's philosophy, but that von Herbert’s letters constitute an early critique of Kant's moral philosophy. First, I investigate the way reticence, candour and deception relate in light of Kant’s letter to von Herbert and argue that deception is not always morally wrong for Kant, and that von Herbert’s "prolonged lie" is not a vice. Second, I explore the concept of happiness and assess von Herbert’s argument that virtuous people are more likely to be unhappy. Third, I discuss the theme of meaning. I argue that von Herbert found herself in a state of profound boredom, involving a loss of meaning, and that it was her primary reason for writing to Kant. I investigate several avenues to see whether Kant's philosophy can account for the significance of meaning and conclude that ultimately it cannot account for meaning in a satisfactory way. Finally, I construe von Herbert's critique as pointing out that of the three components of "the good life" – morality, happiness and meaning – Kant’s moral agents only have room to strive for morality and suggest that this is ultimately a failing of Kant's philosophy.

Date of Award	27 Jul 2020
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of St Andrews
Supervisor	Jens Timmermann (Supervisor)