Self-Improvement : An Essay in Kantian Ethics

Is there any moral obligation to improve oneself? Robert N. Johnson argues that there is, and develops a broadly Kantian point of view to defend his position and challenge a range of opposing arguments. Not only are each of us morally required to make something of our lives, but we owe this to ourselves, rather than to our family or community.

Is there any moral obligation to improve oneself, to foster and develop various capacities in oneself? From a broadly Kantian point of view, Self-Improvement defends the view that there is such an obligation and that it is an obligation that each person owes to him or herself. The defence addresses a range of arguments philosophers have mobilized against this idea, including the argument that it is impossible to owe anything to yourself, and the view that an obligation to improve onself is overly ''moralistic''. Robert N. Johnson argues against Kantian universalization arguments for the duty of self-improvement, as well as arguments that bottom out in a supposed value humanity has. At the same time, he defends a position based on the notion that self- and other-respecting agents would, under the right circumstances, accept the principle of self-improvement and would leave it up to each to be the person to whom this duty is owed.