Considering Collective Agency in Kant's Ethics

Abstract

This paper explores the justifications and ramifications of considering collectives such as states and communties as moral entities within a Kantian moral framework. Kant's criteria for being a moral entity are not helpful for this question, but we will argue that nothing prevents our considering collectives as such. In fact, Kant himself refers to them in this way by means of analogy. By taking this analogy literally we can analyze the morality of of cultural appropriation, proselytism, and a living wage, which we argue cannot be understood properly in a standard Kantian framework.

Keywords: kant, collective, collectivism, individualism, moral, ethics, philosophy, agent, agency, practical, body politic, group, team, nation, community, cultural appropriation, proselytism, living wage, minimum wage, right, duty