Kantian constructivism, respect, and moral depth

This paper defends a version of Kantian constructivism that focuses on the role of the feeling of respect for the moral law. For Kant, the moral worth of an action is constructed by the subject in a way analogous to the way the subject constructs objects of experience in the first Critique. Just as the formulations of the categorical imperative can be seen to be analogous to the categories of the understanding, so also can the feeling of respect be understood to be analogous to the a priori forms of intuition in the first Critique. By focusing on the role of the feeling of respect in constructing the moral worth of an action, Kantian constructivism can be defended against some of its critics. We can also see that for Kant the nature of moral worth requires understanding the moral law rather than knowledge of it.