Immanuel Kant

I wasn’t one hundred percent sure if I had a “clear” score card or not so I made it an effort  to go ahead and post a blog on the philosopher I found to be particularly interesting (Immanuel Kant; 1721-1804) just in case. Also, this is my first time posting a blog and I’m basically kind of “winging it” so please bear with me.

First off for those who may not know Immanuel Kant is a vital figure in modern history. Not only is he one of the greatest metaphysicians that ever lived, but contributed greatly to moral philosophy. He asserted that “human reason gives itself the moral law which is our basis for belief in God, freedom, and immortality; therefore, scientific knowledge, morality, and religious beliefs are mutually consistent and secure because they all rest on the same foundation of human autonomy”. In other words, Kant was a firm believer that in one way or another reason, religious beliefs and morality goes hand in hand. This philosophy above all peeked my interest.

I consider myself a pretty religious person and like Kant I do believe that religious beliefs as well as reason and morality are essentially intertwined. I believe that those who are spiritual and seek some spiritual guidance are essentially more moral that those who are not or do not. This is just my belief. I will even step out on a limb to say that I believe in God himself and I feel that because of this I am better person that I may have been had I not believed. When speaking on my behalf religion gives me hope, builds character, and ultimately allows me to become a better person. Not saying that I can’t strive to become a better person without being religious but in my opinion the effects are greater. I feel like if there’s someone or something (or a force) that drives us to be the best we can, that ultimately ties in with morality. Through religion, we are taught to treat others kindly, perform just acts because it’s the right thing to do and ultimately drives us towards being better people, having better lives, and a better world.

I.                   Metaphysics: Our Relationship to Reality 

Immanuel Kant spent a lot of his time trying to understand the relationship between us and reality. What interested him most were the limits of thoughts and the limits of what we can know and understand. Kant argues that human understanding is the source of the general laws of nature that structure all of our experience. In other words, the human mind is ultimately what determines how we experience everything; Obviously everything has a cause but we as humans cannot fully understand thus causes because of our limited ability to see past this “filter” that is affecting the way we perceive things. In essence, we have no true access to the way the world really is and we’re merely stuck living our lives without absolute understanding. Kant believed that we can never have a complete picture of the way things are, we’ll never learn about them directly, and reality isn’t exactly what it seems. He described this phenomenon as the noumenal world: the unforeseen world that we cannot experience through our senses like we can in the phenomenal world, or the physical world around us.  The noumenal world as he would call it is much deeper, lurks behind all of our experiences, and will always be beyond our grasp. His famous book The Critique of Pure Reason pushed the boundaries to what makes sense and explored human limitations. Aside from metaphysics though, Kant was concerned with morality.

            I believe that we live in a world that’s not created for complete human understanding. I feel that there are so many things our minds are incapable of grasping and therefore will remain unknown to the human race. We as human view certain things and attempt to put two and two together but really all we know is that we don’t know anything at all and a lot is just assumption and theory. Like Kant, I too believe that there is more than one world, one being a world we can’t physically see. We are too small and so limited that we and only see and perceiveas much as these “filters” allow. 

II.                Why do we do the things we do: Morality?

In a dictionary morality may be defined as conformity to the rules of right conduct however, according to philosopher Immanuel Kant morality is the reason we do something rather than the actual act that is being carried out. What we do isn’t necessarily a factor in morality because the decision has to be solely based off of reason. In addition, your emotions should play if not little, no part in morality because how you “feel” shouldn’t dictate your reasons for responsibility. For instance, if I were to see a child about to drown whether I felt compassion for the child or felt disgusted in any way I should act accordingly to the save the child because is it my moral duty to do so. Kant even suggests that if I felt disgust rather than compassion I would be considered more honorable because my emotions were pushing in the opposite direction. If I help the child because I know it’s my duty, it is a moral act. In fact, it’s supposedly the right thing to do because it’s what anyone in the same situation would do. Kant advocates that we should act on solely on reason. Being good should be something a reasonable person should be able to achieve through personal choices rather than doing something just because of how they feel on the inside. He even asserts that having good intentions isn’t enough to consider your actions moral. This leads to this question:

III.             Is lying Immoral?

Well, Kant believed too that under any circumstances, lying was morally wrong even if it were to save your friend’s life because it is our absolute duty to tell the truth despite the outcome. We have the ability to make choices, but we as good people should chose the morally correct thing to do in any and all circumstances. According to Kant we are lucky to have reason that guide ours decisions or else we would be like machine that don’t do things on the basis of purpose. Our ability to make these choices rather than simply responding because of instinct is what makes human beings not like any other animal. In addition, Immanuel Kant suggests that we should act on maxims: the underlying principle. Really, you should only do things that would make sense for anyone in the same situation to do. Yet, you should only act on maxims that were universalizable, or applies to everyone and you must not make special case for yourself. Kant’s contribution to moral philosophy is the respect for the dignity and overall worth of an individual. Moreover, if it isn’t the right thing for anyone else it certainly isn’t a right thing for you and in that respect it must be wrong. Kant strongly believed that you should not use people for self benefit but treat others as you wish to be treated, with respect, recognizing other’s independence and their abilities to make the best fit decisions for themselves.