Beyond Beneficence: Commerce and Interaction in Relation to Kant’s Formula of Humanity

In the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals , Kant names beneficence, or promotion of another’s happiness, as the way we attain “positive” agreement with the humanity in another person (GMS 4:430). I argue, however, that beneficence is not the only way, or necessarily the preferred way, to secure this. By exploring the discussions of commerce and interaction found in Kant’s later practical philosophy, particularly the section on cosmopolitan right in the Metaphysics of Morals , I show that Kant makes available a substantively different way we can positively express recognition of others as ends in themselves. This alternative emphasizes not promoting another’s happiness but instead letting others influence both one’s own ends and other aspects of one’s identity.