ETHICS WITH (OUT) SUCCESS: BETWEEN SCHELER AND KANT

Abstract

Can kant's strong claim against non-formal ethics of values be validly sustained: namely that, all non-formal ethics are necessarily grounded only on success? In ascertaining the moral weight of an action, is there a way of theorizing non-formal ethics, which acknowledges success but neither gives success a final say nor denounces it? In this paper, i shall argue that max scheler with the central stance of his theory, clearly affirms the import of the second question above and strongly denies the claim in the first. I shall adopt a phenomenological approach in fleshing out scheler's middle ground contentions, in defense of non-formal ethics of values against the two extremes of kant's deontology and bentham's utilitarianism. The key entailment of the methodology i adopt is that it largely allows for a combination of interpretive description and expository analysis. Keywords: ethics, success, scheler, kant, moral tenor, values