Abstract

Kant’s highest good consists of happiness and the worthiness of happiness, that is, morality. The question of the exact connection between these two parts is disputed. Some argue that Kant proposed different, sometimes contradictory, concepts of the highest good. First, the highest good is said to consist in the distribution of happiness in relation to morality. Second, the highest good is said to describe a maximal or best state in which the greatest morality is associated with the highest happiness. This paper will show how the problematic relationship between the two elements of the highest good can be resolved and explain the different versions of the highest good.