Immanuel Kant

duties in human-animal relationships remain unclear. So in considering the question of our duties to animals in his “Duties Towards Animals and Spirits,” Immanuel Kant asserts that the moral obligations we have as human beings to animals are, in fact, obligations to ourselves. We ought to act with animals as we would with another fellow human, Kant says, not because animals are conscious of the duties we have toward them, for they are not, but because we are beings conscious of our own duties.…

of all time” (www.britannica.com). At age eight Kant attended a Pietist school and at age sixteen entered the University of Konigsberg where he studied mathematics, however, that is also where he that he developed an interest in philosophy. Due to the death of his father he left the university and worked as a private tutor to assist his family. In 1755 he returned to the University of Koningsberg where he received a doctorate in philosophy. Kant then worked as a lecturer and taught metaphysics…

David Hume and Immanuel Kant corresponded beyond numerous doctrines and writings beyond the value of art, while both opposing to the use of ethical didacticism. As theorists, they both highlight the value of fine art as a view of pure virtuoso, with the intent that the beauty and value of the art that is gathered from overall ideologies or through intellect cannot be knowledgeable. However, these two philosophers primarily are at odds over their philosophical message. The superficial agreements…

Nietzsche and Kant: Metaphysics In order to discuss Nietzsche’s critique of metaphysics against Kant’s critique of metaphysical knowledge, we need to have a clear definition of what metaphysics actually is. Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy that investigates questions concerning the ultimate reality (Masters). Basically, what is real? For example, is materialism true, or are there some sort of spirits associated with the material world? What is the nature of time and space? These are…

Throughout history, philosophers have come up with multiple approaches to ethics in order for humans to reach “The Good.” Philosophers like Aristotle, Immanuel Kant and Emmanuel Levinas posses different concepts and philosophies towards how a human can reach “The Good.” Aristotle's theory is predicated towards fulfilling one’s purpose to reach their potential, Kant’s theory is driven towards the duty each individual must accomplish to reach “The Good,” and finally, Levinas's theory is based on…

or act for themselves. Immanuel Kant’s view does not claim that it is permissible to cause pointless animal suffering, but he does insist that we have no obligations to the animals themselves. I will argue that humans do have obligations to the animals themselves. Kant believed that autonomy was extremely valuable, but in order to have it one must have free will, which requires having self-consciousness and the capacity to be guided by reason. But animals, according to Kant, are not autonomous.…

In his Meditations on First Philosophy, René Descartes offers both an a priori and an a posteriori proof of God’s existence. Until Immanuel Kant introduced his epistemology—the notion of a priori synthetic judgments—Descartes’ a priori proof was generally considered purely demonstrative and analytic. However, analyzing Descartes using Kant’s epistemological foundations, reveals that Descartes’ a priori proof was both a priori and synthetic. Specifically, the Cartesian concept of clear and…

matured, man’s ideas and theories began to mature and change. Certain men, “philosophes,” began to confront the medieval man’s way of thinking. Instead of relying on societal tradition, philosophes such as Jean-Jacques Rosseau, Denis Diderot, and Immanuel Kant challenged their contemporaries to use reason in their individual lives and religion to go beyond what had normally been accepted as fact. This Age of Enlightenment lasted throughout the eighteenth-century, but the facts of and the debate…

The last ethical perspective that will be reviewed is Kantianism. Kantianism is a branch of ethical philosophy that was originated by Immanuel Kant. Immanuel Kant believes a good action is only base on a good will, and when duty and will are aligned with one another. The main formulation of Kantian ethics is base on the categorical imperative. The categorical imperative is a principle of universalisability and questions if everyone in the world were to be doing the same action at the same time…

The Kantian Ethics theory is the deontological theory that will be utilized in dilemma mentioned above. Immanuel Kant argues that one should base morality on proper duty and proper motive. Kant has two major formulations to his theory, “Act only on that maxim that you can will as a universal law…[and] Always treat humanity, whether in your own person or that or another, never simply as a means but always at the same time as an end.” (MacKinnon, p. 116, 2001). According to Kant’s theory, it…