Kant acknowledges that it is extremely difficult for man to get to a position of maturity alone but it is easier if a group of people to do it get there together. It is when a person starts depending on other people to guide him, it is difficult to break out of that and start thinking on his own. Kant also expresses in his essay that a person needs certain qualities to be able leave his immature self, and this includes being fearless and…
In “Rejecting All Lies: Immanuel Kant”, an article by Sissela Bok, Bok states that the truth can not be avoided, no circumstance can cause you to withhold the truth. Bok supports her claim by writing about Immanuel Kant who believes that you should not avoid the truth at any time, and having the benefit of being clear and not needing to track the lies you have told. Bok want to show all lies are not okay in any circumstance, whether it’s to save a person’s life, or to spare someone’s feeling.…
John Stewart Mill and Immanuel Kant are two of the most influential philosophers in history. Their philosophies of utilitarianism and deontology, respectively, have different fundamental values and priorities. The fundamental principle of utilitarianism is that actions are morally correct in proportion to how much happiness they create, henceforth all people should strive to promote happiness and pleasure. Happiness, Mill states, is the ultimate objective of all human actions; one shall prefer those actions which yield the most happiness.…
In Chapter 5 Sandel introduces us to the philosopher Immanuel Kant. This chapter talks focuses on Kant’s view on motive such as: What is the Supreme principle of morality and what is human freedom? Kant believes that morality is based on universal law. Kant calls this act categorical imperative. The idea is that you should treat everyone how everyone would want to be treated.…
Kant and Nietzsche According to Kant the only thing in this world that is explicitly good is “good will.” Exploring the aphorisms in the Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, we will examine the three primary factors Kant uses as his basis for confirming good will.…
Kant’s position, being the “lesser degree of civil liberty” as a necessary way point to the passage to republicanism, is an agreeable viewpoint. His argument, that encompasses the reduced amount of civil freedom, replicates that of the actions of a republican mindset. His argument could include the examples of conservatives positions on gay rights and abortion, that are both prominent political opinions in our society. Taking into consideration, Kant’s era of life, these prominent political situations would still be relevant in the thought process that he produces. He shows that he sticks to the traditional values and attitudes of society, similar to those of republicans that are representing the nation today, leading to the understanding that…
Immanuel Kant’s Moral Theory is widely studied in philosophy and the field of ethics. In his theory, Kant expresses the ways to determine the morality of an action: examining the intentions behind the action in question is most important instead of merely considering the consequences. Moral actions, he explains, must have the intention of being consistent with duty for the sake of duty and doing the right thing; they cannot be motivated by any inclinations. Actions inconsistent with duty would be, for example, lying, cheating, stealing, or breaking a promise. These actions could never be moral in any case since they defy the honesty of duty.…
Immanuel Kant’s impact on Western thought is undoubtedly profound. Being one of the most distinguished figures of the German Idealist movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Kant’s work has set a precedent that, to this day, deeply influences our understanding of ethical discussion, political philosophy, and human cognition. Kant’s multiple contributions still are subject of debate; although, it is his Categorical Imperative that gathers the most attention, discourse, and controversy. Being a reaction to the subjectivity of his era, the Categorical Imperative provides an objective and infallible guideline for universal moral behavior, that stipulates one’s actions should not be dependent on ulterior motives and in consideration that the act itself will become universally accepted, ergo, if one were to steal then one should also be accepting of…
1. What is the most significant thing I learned this week? In the reading of Contemplative Vision Chapter 2, the discussion of retreats truly helped open my eyes in the impact that spiritual retreats can have on our journey with God. Prior to reading this chapter I had the wrong idea of what a spiritual retreat was.…
Sensibility has no ways of reaching noumena, it is purely an analytical concept, and this knowledge is necessary in considering the necessity of the concept of noumena in itself. Sensible intuition cannot be extended to things in intuitions and the rationality in sensible cognition is limited. Cognitions cannot extend their domain to everything that the understanding thinks. Due to this, the concept of noumenon is purely epistemological, a concept by means of specific modes of cognition and is rendered an intellectual…
The enlightenment was a reformation of thought. Philosophers sought to question if the facts we are given are true and define enlightenment. Kant and Descartes discuss enlightenment in the context of intellect whereas Lessing and Smith discuss enlightenment of toleration and compassion. All four of these authors contributed immensely to the enlightenment and as a whole answered what enlightenment is. Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher and who posed the question of “What is enlightenment?”…
Experimental Philosophy In his article 'Experimental Philosophy', Joshua Knobe (2007) gives an overview of the field of experimental philosophy and the ongoing disagreement concerning how work coming out of this relatively new endeavour should be understood in relation to analytic philosophy. Knobe asserts that people's intuitions have often played a significant role in philosophical debates within analytic philosophy (Knobe 2007: 81), particularly when dealing with moral questions. Indeed, analytic philosophers have often made use of people's intuitions in order to untangle moral dilemmas (Knobe 2007: 88). Although intuitions are usually given weight by analytic philosophers, it is often the case that their claims about people's intuitions…
Kant’s moral theory is based on the fact that one’s action should be governed by a maxim that follows the purity of the will; the idea that one’s actions should be based on a will that aligns with duty and not on the consequences of one’s actions. In the contrary, rule utilitarianism is based on the consequences of one’s actions and how it impacts the overall happiness of the individuals involved. The following paper focuses on the ideas of duty ethics and utilitarian ethics; and how these ideas can be implemented in the case of James Liang. Kant believes that an act is morally acceptable when such an act perfectly aligns with one’s duty. Furthermore, he believed that all rational beings are obligated by the demands of duty.…
“We could not prove freedom to be something actual in ourselves and in human nature. We saw merely that we must presuppose it if we want to think of a being as rational and as endowed with consciousness of its causality as regards actions” (Page 311). Immanuel Kant believed that freedom is a presupposition of morality. Kant was not concerned with the purity of your will for doing something, but rather with the derivation of moral principles from reason alone for example independently of experience. He focused on emphasized the importance of reason and the ration that comes with our moral principles.…
Instinctive judgments, or decisions derived without conscious thoughts, are made naturally by humans in every situation. Instinctive judgments are made quickly, and it is often influenced by one’s own experiences, beliefs, and culture. The problem with instinctive judgment is that is it not a way of knowing yet it is very similar to intuition. Intuition guides us towards knowledge without cognitive processes- gut feeling. Knowledge derives from ways of knowing, but if intuition, one of the ways of knowing, excludes cognitive processes, to what extent can we rely on our instinctive judgments?…