Stephen Engstrom
Department of Philosophy
University of Pittsburgh

Abstract:
Kant holds that virtue is a kind of strength of will. This view has led many to suppose that virtue as he understands it amounts to what Aristotle would call mere continence, rather than genuine virtue. But Kant also suggests that the strength in which virtue consists is a certain type of freedom. While this suggestion raises some puzzles of its own, an exploration of Kant's account of this freedom will throw light on his conception of virtue and reveal the presence within his ethics of a distinction corresponding to Aristotle's distinction between mere continence and virtue.