Abstract

This paper challenges the widely accepted view that right governs action, and only actions, while ethics governs maxims. It argues that principles of right not only apply to actions but also impose constraints on maxims. However, while ethics provides us with a principle for adopting maxims, right formulates only a negative principle —it merely specifies which maxims are contrary to right. This interpretation not only offers an exegetical advantage over readings that consider right as concerning only actions but also presents Kant’s moral philosophy as a more coherent theory, in which the notion that moral laws should govern maxims is central. If right, according to Kant, is to be understood as part of a moral theory that establishes duties and obligations through principles of pure reason, then right, as a system of normative principles, must be able to impose constraints on the subjective principles on which we act.