In this talk, Bernath argues that one is epistemically entitled to believe that she has a teleological nature. His argument has three main tenets: a Kantian claim, an Augustinian, and a third one that connects the previous two. The Kantian one is that anyone is epistemically entitled to believe that she has categorical obligations because without categorical obligations epistemic obligations have negligible normative force. The Augustinian one is the contention that humans have an indelible desire for infinite value. However, the main focus of the talk is the justification of the third claim that connects the previous two. I call it Categorical Condition Thesis (CCT) because it says that one can bear categorical obligations only if she has an indelible desire for infinite value. Insofar as one’s belief in the truth of CCT is rational, then she is epistemically entitled to believe not only that she has categorical obligations but that she has an indelible desire for infinite value. In the final part of the talk Bernath argues that if these three main claims are true, then it is reasonable to regard categorical obligations as guides achieving one’s indelible goal. In other words, it is within anyone’s epistemic rights to believe that discharging categorical obligations leads toward fulfilling the teleology of man.
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