Was versteht Kant unter einer „Ausnahme"?: Zur Unterscheidung vollkommener und unvollkommener Pflichten in der Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten. (German)

The article examines the distinction between perfect and imperfect duties in Immanuel Kant's work "Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals". The author argues for a different interpretation of Kant's explanation and claims that perfect duties can still apply without exception. Kant uses the terms "permit" and "exception" in relation to these duties. The author argues that Kant's use of the term "exception" should not be understood as a deviation from a rule, but as an exception from something. This exception allows for the specification of what is duty in individual cases, based on empirical interests and the given purpose. [Extracted from the article]

In the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant explains a perfect duty as one that "admits no exception in favor of inclination". An imperfect duty must then, in turn, be one which does admit such exceptions. However, according to Kant, all duties are valid without exception, and so there has been broad agreement among Kantians and Kant interpreters from the beginning that perfect duties cannot be characterized by exceptionless validity. I would thus like to argue in favor of a different reading of Kant's explanation. My thesis is that he uses the term 'exception' in quite different ways, as can be documented, for instance, in the Metaphysics of Morals and the Critique of Pure Reason. The term then has another meaning, and this is also the case in the passage in question in the Groundwork. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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