2010 Issue №3(33)

This article puts forward the idea that the basis of Kant’s philosophy is moral ontology dominated by things in themselves, which provide the basis for the moral world order: God, soul, and freedom. Kant's epistemology, teleology and anthropology are determined by the attempt to prove the possibility of such world order. The ultimate end of this order is a human as a moral being, the thinking, experience, and knowledge of which are consistent with this end.

This article offers a comparative analysis of Kant's moral philosophy and the philosophy of Sade revealing the paradoxes of the categorical imperative. The satisfaction of the requirement of the categorical imperative is, on the one hand, a single and unique act and, on the other hand, a permanent and universal one. Although the familiarity with the categorical imperative does not always result in a moral action, the familiarity itself alongside the idea of forgiveness may be considered as a manifestation of morality and freedom.