A Study of the Empty Formalism Critique of Kantian Ethics

Hegel reads Kant's three critiques, that of the Critique of Pure reason, Practical Reason, and Judgment with a critical approach. The critique called "empty formalism", in different forms, is present in Hegel's works, from youth till death, thus sometimes is hidden in others critiques and sometimes is so obvious that hides other critiques within itself. But finally, the base of it is founded upon the idea that Kant's morality is a non-historical, formal and empty one, thus, in concrete situations of action, it cannot assist moral agents and does not tell him/her how to act. For Hegel, the main reason of this inability stems from Kant's strict and arid morality, which by transcending practical reason and detaching its relation with wants and particular and subjective inclinations, makes it empty and reduces it to a universal form of law.