ABSTRACT

Kant claims that there is an imperative of prudence based upon the fact that each finite rational being necessarily wills his own happiness, but this thesis appears to conflict with the account of ends Kant formulates in Metaphysik der Sitten.  After elaborating the apparent problem this poses for Kant's conception of prudence, it is argued that Kant is committed to the idea of a necessarily possessed end independently of his account of prudence and that there is no special problem with the idea of happiness as a necessary end.