Reflexiones acerca de la prudencia en Kant

Abstract

Kant discusses prudence in many different contexts. His pragmatic anthropology is a doctrine of prudence; Kant lectured on anthropology from 1772-1773 until 1795-1796 and published a resumee of those lectures in 1798. In his moral philosophy, prudence appear under various aspects. First, it is an opponent to pure morality, trying to guide human life instead of conceding primacy to the categorical imperative; but on the other hand it is a moral duty to cultivate prudence as an human faculty which enables us to master pragmatic challenges in our life. And, thirdly, moral philosophy shows the possibility of a convergence of morality and prudence; you can find this in Kant's conception of the highest good in ethics and in political philosophy, in the idea, that moral actions will show themselves to be the most prudent. Another important aspect of Kant's philosophy of prudence is the problem of freedom; in the Critique of Practical Reason the moral law is the necessary and sufficient condition of freedom; but then raises the question about whether prudent actions can be free or are merely the products of the determination of the inner sense.