Immanuel Wallerstein

There are subsets of actions and qualities that allow for use to live a good life in a Kantian view. These actions and qualities are defined by philosopher Immanuel Kant and solidified with the creation of what we know as the Categorical Imperative, which is the guiding principle for all our actions. This imperative is based on the premise of whether or not we would like your view/action or maxim to be blown up and imposed on a global scale. With this imperative, Kant provides a foundation for…

ease the suffering of the people affected by famine. To help answer this question, I will compare two ethical approaches on how to dealing with this problem. The approaches used are John Stuart Mills and Peter Singer’s utilitarian perspective and Immanuel Kant and Onora O’Neill’s Kantian perspective of dealing with ethics. I will also choose the perspective I find suited for this situation and explain its merits. The utilitarian principals originated with Jeremy Bentham who was an English…

attention towards it. In order to make a firm decision on the plausibility of Singer’s argument, I will be looking closely at Shelley Kagan, who criticises Singer’s argument in itself, as well as an earlier writer who discussed animal ethics, namely, Immanuel Kant. By looking at critics of Singer’s ideas, we can then discuss which view is more convincing. In order to understand how specicism may be similar to racism, it is first necessary to define specicism. Specicism is, a prejudice or a bias…

In this essay, the philosophical positions of Immanuel Kant and David Hume will be discussed with regards to the relationship between reason and morality, and the role of sympathy in moral motivation and judgement will be assessed. Through their respective works, they both propose different positions and standpoints on the issue of morality. Hume’s position of morality comes from feelings, emotions and passions, whereas Kant believed that morality is based on reason and a duty that applies to a…

Immanuel Kant’s deontological ethical theories provide a perfect edification on why it is morally reprehensible to apprehend and then experiment on dozens of individuals against their knowledge and will. The assumption, and argument, of the doctor being morally wrong in experimenting on homeless individuals will be buttressed on Kantian ethics. My argument will be as follows: A. The Doctor’s research is justified if and only if the research treats people as ends. B. It is not the case that the…

Infidelity seems to be a common thing in many countries, especially in America. It’s not even a topic that is sugar coated as it used to be; popular talk shows have capitalized on infidelity, and the complicated relationships that surround the topic, whole movies are based on the topic, and almost weekly another public figure is exposed on the cover of a tabloid for the scandal. While it is not something I am especially proud of I have directly been involved in more than one extramarital affair.…

Epistemology is the theory of knowledge which aims to answer the question “How do we know?” In epistemology, we study nature, source, limits and validity of all knowledge. More specifically, epistemology considers the question “What is Knowledge?” and how does one obtain knowledge. Knowledge is the awareness and understanding of specific aspects of truth, belief and justification. Knowledge acquisition can be obtained through epistemology through a rationalism or empiricism approach. I will…

In 1871, German philosopher Immanuel Kant published “The Critique of Pure Reason,” which is now considered as one of the most important works of philosophy in history. Kant explains in his publication that there are two types of knowledge: a priori and a posteriori. A priori knowledge is knowledge that is independent of all experience. One example of this is all bachelors are unmarried. No experience is necessary to prove that this statement is true. A posteriori knowledge is opposite of a…

Continuing with the case of Dennett vs NASA, I am being called upon to make recommendations to the court on various philosophical issues related to the aftermath of the short story “Where Am I?”, by Daniel Dennett. The latest issue pertains to whether or not the government is guilt for their role in the transformation of Dennett 's body being controlled by two people. While they are not fully responsible for what happened, the government certainly has some blame for this situation and a moral…

What Kant is attempting to explain is if all the commonly accepted “good” things like health, wealth and friendship are really good, he asks under what conditions do these qualify as good things. He explains that all good things are not good under all circumstances. Nothing can be called good in this world with out qualification except Good Will which Kant says is the effort of rational beings to do what they ought to do rather then to act in self-interest. To better understand good will, when…