Kant: Self-Determination in the Age of Reason - Assignment Example

Immanuel Kant Philosophy is the study of different thoughts and how the world works. There have always been philosophers who have studied many ideas and written about them. Most of the time they studied how life worked and how people perceived things. One of the ideas philosophers studied was metaphysics. THE VARIETIES OF ETHICAL THEORY Ethics have been studied for thousands of years and there are many varieties. According to Richard T. Hull there are two types of fundamental ethical theories: those that say a person should choose their actions to "maximize the value or values to be expected as consequences of those actions" (Hull 1) or those that say a person should chose their actions according to a certain standard of duty or obligation. Some types of ethical consideration comes from various religions and people are supposed to measure their actions based on what a particular faith sees as right or wrong. Another type of ethical consideration says that something is "right" if it brings about pleasure to the individual or to a collective society (Hull 2). In individualistic theories the individual only seeks their own good and does not think about anyone else (Hull 3). There are many different ways that people think about life and everyone has an opinion about what to do in any situation. WHY THE STUDY OF ETHICS IS IMPORTANT The study of ethics is important because it helps to make meaning out of life. Everyone wants to know why they are on this planet and what they are supposed to do. Rick Garlikov suggests that the study of ethics teaches an individual the various things they need to think about when deciding what is "right" or "wrong." When a student enters an ethics course they will be exposed to ideas about personal responsibility, about cultural customs and about the rules or organization. This will allow students to have a broader base to see the difference between "good intentions and right acts" (Garlikov). This researcher will examine the life and philosophy of Immanuel Kant because he is credited with creating, "the greatest metaphysical system of them all (Strathern 7). EARLY BEGINNINGS OF KANT Immanuel Kant was born in Königsberg which was in the province of East Prussia. He grew up at a time when Prussia was in turmoil because it had been devastated by war. In addition, the plague had destroyed half of their population (Strathern 10). He was the fourth child born in his family and although his mother had nine children, only five children survived their infancy; he was the first of two boys. Kants father was a "maker of leather straps" (harness maker) and his mother was the daughter of a saddle maker (Wood). Although Kants mother was uneducated she is said to have had an understanding of life that was "natural intelligence." She was the one who influenced Kant the most because she taught him about the things in life that were important. Their talks about nature piqued his interest about the world around him. During these times she taught him her ideas, values and thoughts about life which later helped him shape his own philosophy. Kant grew up in a strict Piestist Lutheran religion and attended a local Piestist school called the Collegium Fredericianum, from ages 8-16 (Wood). He was bored with the various edicts of religion which made him pull away from any type of religion (Strathern 11). One of the ideas that he would take from his upbringing was the belief that life should be lived simply and under a strict moral code of ethics. In 1737 Kant had another experience that would stay with him throughout his life: his other died and he was coming into puberty at the same time. Some critics say that he was experiencing sexual feelings for his mother and he felt guilty about it which led to a repression of his sexual feelings throughout his life. (Strathern 10). When Kant was 18 he started university studies at the University of Königsberg. Ironically he was a theology major but again grew bored with it and turned his interest towards mathematics and physics. At the age of 21 his father died and left the family without money which meant he had to leave the university before he finished his degree. He used his intelligence and his understanding of education to work as a tutor in order to make a living. One interesting note about Kant is that he was a very small many and stood only five feet tall. His head was bigger than his body and his body was twisted in such a way that one should drooped and the other one curved back. This gave the appearance that his head was always leaning towards one side (Strathern 15). Because of his deformity it was difficult for him to be around people without being ridiculed and to become somewhat of an outcast in his society. Wealthy people saw past the deformity and welcomed him into their homes as private tutor. In this way he was able to meet influential people that would help him with his future career. In 1755 he finished is university studies to receive a degree, thanks to a Piest benefactor, and it would be two more years before he began to write his own philosophy. Up until that time he studied what other prominent philosophers wrote (Strathern 16). KANTS THEORIES AND THEMES Kant is noted for a variety of philosophical thought that is still relevant today. Kant wrote prolifically on the way he thought the universe worked which brought him into the area of metaphysics. The Critique of Pure Reason was Kants first major work and it criticized many of the philosophers in his time. In it he talked about "the Transcendental Aesthetic." He suggested that space and time are the pure forms of thoughts that man uses to represent objects. They are the "forms" or the "appearance of things" rather than pure forms. He makes this distinction and called it "transcendental idealism" (Guyer 52). This theory suggests that knowledge, if it is "real" need to have a "sensory component" which means on has to be able to confirm knowledge in some way through the senses. He further explained that if metaphysics was to be understood, it must be understood as a matter of "practical knowledge rather than theoretical knowledge" (Guyer 52). It seems that he was saying that there is a practical reason for everything that happens in life and that people should look towards this practical knowledge so they can prove that what they are thinking about is "real." ETHICAL RELATIVISM AND CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE Ethical realism has a foundation that states that every culture defines what is right and wrong in different ways. Individuals in these cultures also have different concepts of what they see as morally right or wrong (Faculty of Frostburg College). Kant believed that each individual should be able to govern themselves when it comes to doing what is right and wrong instead of relying on the norms of any culture. Kant said that because everyone had their own way of looking at morals and values society could not ever reason that they could solve conflicts in society. Instead, they would have to come together and find a common ground in order to figure out what would be right or wrong for the entire group (Faculty of Frostburg College). His categorical imperative was brought forth as a way to test what was right or wrong. This imperatives maxim was to "Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law"(Faculty of Frostburg College). The maxim that he talked about was the personal rule that individuals have to help them decide right and wrong. He felt that the "fundamental principle of morality" would have validity for anyone who was rational. Because human beings are not completely rational they do not follow a specific law of morality. Because they cannot be totally rational, humans find that morality is a constraint rather than a concept to be followed so they often work against moral codes. Because of this, morality becomes a matter of "Categorical imperative" (Guyer 179-80). THE PRINCIPLES OF METAPHYSICS OF MORALITY In Kants first book, The Critique of Pure Reason he laid out the basis for the later work which was called the Metaphysics of Morality or Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. In this second book he described that there are two types of metaphysics: one of nature and the other for morality (Kant Preface par. 5). In this work as in his other work he spoke of a priori which was his way of saying that most people delivered moral judgments that came from their own maxim. He stated that those things that came from a priori only were pure philosophy. When it is formal logic, it becomes metaphysics (Kant Preface par. 2). According to Kant everything has a practical side and a metaphysical side and both have to be taken into consideration when an individual is attempting to find what is right or wrong. He also suggests that if a moral edict is to be followed by humans it must have a practical side that makes sense to the human being. As an example, he gives the idea of "thou shalt not lie" is something that can be observed and done by everyone and for most people it is done out of obligation and it gives the individual an understanding from a practical place. (Kant par. 7). FINAL YEARS OF IMMANUEL KANT AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES As stated previously Kant pulled away from organized religion because he found it boring. This did not stop him from having his own philosophy of religion. He had a full range of arguments "for the existence of God, the attributes of God, the immortality of the soul, the problem of evil, and the relationship of moral principles to religious belief and practice" (Rossi 1). He was most interested in the theory and the function that God had in his society. He studied God as a part of the structure that had created the world. This brought him into the study of metaphysics because he wanted to understand where God as a concept fit into the entire world theory (Rossi "overview and background" in "Kants"). He determined that the concept of God was a key concept in metaphysics and he saw this as a "feature of human life and culture" (Rossi "overview and background" in "Kants"). In the final years of Kants life he did produce one other manuscript that is referred to as the Opus Postumum today because it was never finished. In it he continued to search for meaning in the relationship of God to the moral consciousness of man. It is noted that as he grew older he became more frail and developed dementia which may have been something like Alzheimer’s disease (Wood). For much of his life he continued to have financial difficulties but he continued to write until his death. Conclusion Immanuel Kant was a philosopher who changed the world as he knew it in many respects. Albert Einstein is quoted as saying that Kants first work was a great influence on him and it helped him develop his relativity theory (Wood). There is no doubt that Kant was a philosopher ahead of his time because he was reasoning differently than other philosophers and he understood many concepts that are still being talked about today. As an example, people have always wondered whether god was a concept or a being and many do not adhere to a religion that sees god as something larger than themselves. The idea of metaphysics is still very strong today and it has become an interesting treatise when discussing the ideas of quantum physics. In some of Kants writings the hints and challenges of quantum physics is seen. Kant is also a great example of someone who was able to move past their disability and challenges to create a body of work that transcends his time. Works Cited Faculty of Frostburg College. Kant: Self-Determination in the Age of Reason. 25 June 2009. Garlikov, Rick. "The Point of Studying Ethics (Moral Philosophy)". 23 June 2009. . Guyer, Paul. Kant. NY: Routledge, 2006. Hull, Richard T. "The Varieties of Ethical Theories," given at Buffalo Psychiatric Center, March 27, 1979. 25 June 2009 < http://www.richard-t-hull.com/publications/varieties.pdf> Kant, Immanuel. Fundamental Principles Of The Metaphysic Of Morals. 1785. 25 June 2009 Rossi, Philip. "Kants Philosophy of Religion". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 22 June 2004. 27 June 2009. . Strathern, Paul. Kant in 90 minutes. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1996. Wood, Kelsey. "Immanuel Kant". The Literary Encyclopedia. 25 September 2003. 26 June 2009 Read More