Ethics Improper: The Embodied Ethics of Kant's Anthropology

This essay examines a companion ethics to the rigorist ethics of Kant's ethical works “proper” by examining his “improper” ethics of the embodied, anthropological realm, and the central role for rhetoric and communication therein. Kant's Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View emphasizes social exchange and conversation in extended and striking ways. The importance of sociality does not merely concern cultivating taste, but additionally cultivates, in various ways, vitality of the body and the mind. Beyond mere entertainment or pleasant diversion, these interconnections between sociable exchange and the body and mind play a pivotal role for Kant's embodied ethics—reflecting a profound concern for the care of the self.