Morality against happiness?

Science tells us that craving pleasure lawfully destroys happiness.[1] The Buddha and Greek philosophers like Plato see the pursuit of happiness as the basis for moral law.

Kant’s Critique of Practical Reason is about the relationship of moral law and happiness.

For Kant, law and happiness and are not merely distinct but opposed to one another. The Second Critique focuses on the power of will to effect change in the world; to think the limited content of our activity as unconditionally necessary is to understand practical reason.

Join us for discussion of Kant’s Second Critique on Friday, February 23 at 4pm in Hagerty Hall 159. The text of the preface, introducion, and analytic (first part) can be found here.  of the dialectic (second part) here.

[1] The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains, by Robert H. Lustig (2017)