Morality in Transition: Reassessing Ethics Beyond Kant

• Beauty Das

  University of North Bengal

  Author

This paper, entitled “Morality in Transition: Reassessing Ethics Beyond Kant,” re-examines the trajectory of moral philosophy in the post-Kantian era, highlighting the enduring influence and transformation of Kant’s ethical framework. Kant’s moral philosophy, grounded in reason, duty, and the categorical imperative, revolutionised the evaluation of moral action by prioritizing intention over consequence. His universal, duty-based ethics not only reshaped the foundations of morality but also inspired subsequent philosophical developments. This study explores how three key thinkers—Hegel, Heidegger, and Habermas—engaged with, revised, or extended Kant’s ideas. Across these perspectives, a consistent theme emerges, which reveals that morality is both self-formative and indispensable, whether conceived in abstract or concrete terms. This analysis actively demonstrates that Kant’s legacy remains central to modern debates, as post-Kantian philosophy continues to draw upon, critique, and reformulate his moral vision for contemporary ethical and socio-political contexts.

1. Beauty Das, University of North Bengal

   Ph D Research Scholar

Abbott, T. K. (1909). Kant’s Critique of Practical Reason and Other Works: On the Theory of

Ethics. Longmans, Green, and Co.

Beiser, F. (2005). Hegel. Routledge.

Bencivenga, E. (2007). Ethics Vindicated: Kant’s Transcendental Legitimation of Moral

Discourse. Oxford University Press.

Copp, D. (2006). The Oxford Handbook of Ethical Theory. Oxford University Press.

Finlayson, J. G. (2005). Habermas: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.

Golob, S. (2017). Heidegger. In S. Golob & J. Timmermann (Eds.). The Cambridge History of

Moral Philosophy, pp. 623-635. Cambridge University Press.

Gregor, M. J. (1996). Immanuel Kant: Practical Philosophy. Cambridge University Press.

Guignon, C. (1993). The Cambridge Companion to Heidegger. Cambridge University Press.

Guyer, P. (1992). The Cambridge Companion to Kant. Cambridge University Press.

Habermas, J. (1992). Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action. C. Lenhardt & S. W.

Nicholsen, Trans. Polity Press. Original work published 1983.

Hegel, G. W. F. (2018). The Phenomenology of Spirit. M, Inwood, Trans. Oxford University

Press. Original work published 1807.

Heidegger, M. (1991). The Principle of Reason. R. Lilly, Trans. Indiana University Press.

Original work published 1962.

Kant, I. (1964). Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals. H. J. Paton, Trans. Harper & Row,

Publishers. Original work published 1785.

Kant, I. (2015). Critique of Practical Reason. M. Gregor, Trans. Cambridge University Press.

Original work published 1788.

Lotz, C. (2005). Non-Epistemic Self-Awareness. On Heidegger’s reading of Kant’s Practical

Philosophy. Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, 36(1), pp. 90-96.

http://doi.org/10.1080/00071773.2005.11007466.

Paton, H. J. (1947). The Categorical Imperative: A Study in Kant’s Moral Philosophy. The

Anchor Press, Ltd.

• PDF

Copyright (c) 2026 Beauty Das (Author)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.