Kantian Concept

8/14/2019 Kantian Concept

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THE KANTIAN CONCEPT

Immanuel Kant and His Philosophy


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Immanuel Kant

A German philosopher born in Knigsberg in East

Prussia on April 22, 1724.

He entered the University of Knigsberg, where he

studied philosophy, mathematics, and the natural

sciences under a young instructor named Martin

Knutzen, who first introduced him to the

philosophy of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and

Christian von Wolff


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Immanuel Kant

His philosophy is essentially a "criticism", because

it is an examination of knowledge, and

"transcendental", because its purpose in

examining knowledge, is to determine the a priori,or transcendental, forms.


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Two periods of Kants literary activity

Pre-critical period (1747-1781)

Critical period (1781-1794)


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Pre-critical period

Kant, taught the philosophy then prevalent in

Germany, which was Wolff's modified form ofdogmatic rationalism.

Apparent contradictions which he found to exist in

the physical sciences, and the conclusions which

Hume had reached in his analysis of the principle

of causation, "awoke Kant from his dogmatic

slumber"


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Pre-critical period

Starting from the year 1770, Kant showed his

tendency of forming an independent philosophy

and he spent the following years in preparation for

his first major work considered in his criticalperiod, which is, the Critique of Pure Reason


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Critical period

It will be found most convenient to divide the

study of Kant's critical philosophy into three

portions:

1. "Critique of Pure Reason"

2. "Critique of Practical Reason

3. "Critique of the Faculty of Judgment"


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Critical period

"Critiques" -- so named because, in the true sense

of the word, "to criticize" means to discuss and

judge.

Kant's entire work is a careful examination and

judgment of Rationalism and Empiricism, with a

view to determining the merits and deficiencies of

the two.


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Human Consciousness and Conduct


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Kant reached back to Plato's concept of reality

Kant indicated that the nature of his philosophic

thought goes beyond the realm of sense

experience

ideas and concepts can be formed and organized in

the human intellect independently of feelings and

inclinations


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For Kant, Hume's idea is not pure knowledge but

only experimental knowledge

"there is, therefore, a priori knowledge"



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Principle of Rightness


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Principle of Rightness

Precepts of natural law are the telos that the legalorder should strive to attain

Precepts of the natural law are not prompted by

sense-experience but by the ethical attitude to do

what is right and avoid what is wrong with the use

of the unique faculties of human consciousness,

namely: thinking, volition and judgment


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The form is given by the intellect, independent ofall experience, a priori, and signifies the function,

manner and law of knowing and acting, which the

subject finds in itself prior to all experience.

The matter is the subjective sensations which we

receive from the external world.

"Critique of Pure Reason"


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This work is divided into three parts:

Transcendental Aesthetic

-investigates the elements of sensible knowledge

in reference to a priori forms of space and time



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Transcendental Analytic

-an inquiry into intellectual knowledge

Transcendental Dialectic

-has for its object that reality which lies beyond

our experience; namely, the essence of God, man

and the world


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Critique of Practical Reason

Kant makes the universality and necessity of themoral law dependent, not on the empirical act and

the end that we might intend in our actions, but on

a categorical imperative, in the will itself.

"Duty for duty's sake"


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Among all the imperatives that can determine the

will to action it is necessary to distinguish thehypothetical from the categorical

Hypothetical imperatives - impose a command in

order to attain an end and are hence conditioned

on that end.

Categorical imperatives - impose themselves

automatically.



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Only categorical imperatives enjoy universality andnecessity, and hence only they can be the

foundation of morality.



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Critique of Judgement

Both the Critique of Pure Reason and the Critiqueof Practical Reason have established a dualism -- of

phenomenon (knowable by the senses) and

noumenon (thing in itself), of the sensible andsuprasensible, the conditional and unconditional,

mechanical necessity and liberty.


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Kant maintains that such a synthesis is possible

through the judgment of sentiment, the study ofwhich he presents in the Critique of Judgment.

In the Critique of Judgment Kant presents only two

reflecting judgments -- that which arises from thefinality of nature (teleological), and that which is

called aesthetic.



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Teleological Judgement

-creative activity of nature develops itself in asuccessive series of phenomena connected with

one another mechanically, that is, through the laws

of causality.

-this teleological view, in which we consider the

world of beings and of events as ordained to an

end and ultimately to our spiritual exigencies, findsits reason in sentiment and not in the intellect.



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Aesthetic Judgement

-we judge an object to be pleasurable

-begins by our separating the object from every

determined concept and from every practical

interest, and by referring the object thus freed to

the subject

-the object of an aesthetic judgment is the "form"

of the object considered in itself and referred to

the subject.



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-In becoming aware of aesthetic pleasure, thesubject (ego) feels himself free of any theoretical

or practical interest; he feels himself to be one, a

person, the subject of spiritual activity.



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The Principle of Rightness

Capacity for

Knowledge

Thinking Knowledge

derived from

mental

apprehension orcognition, not

knowledge

obtained through

or upon direct

use of the

physical senses.


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The Principle of Rightness

Capacity ofwilling or

determining

something

Volition Attitude leadingto action in

accordance with

reason, not on

the basis of the

physical sense.

Capacity for

discernment

Judgment Decisions in

conformity with

right principles orideals, not on the

basis of the

physical senses.


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Categorical Imperative


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How and Why Something May be

Considered Moral

Everyone must admit that a law, if it

is to hold morally, i.e., as a groundof obligation, must imply absolutenecessity; he must admit that thecommand, Thou shall not lie, doesnot apply to men only, as if other

rational beings had no need toobserve it. The same is true for allother moral laws properly called.


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How and Why Something May be

Considered Moral

Morality exists a priori.

Morality is the unconditional ought.


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Application of Kants Principle of

Rightness

Deals with the problem of determining whenconduct and decisions are or are not injurious to

others.

How may conduct and decisions be considered in

accord with the principle of rightness with

certainty?


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Rightness

It is unsound to deal with the problem relating

principle of rightness with conduct and decisionsby relying on the empirical nature of sense-

experience.

Principles of natural law would not be binding onall rational persons at all times.

Kant relied on the ethical ought rather than on

the legal ought.


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Rightness

A standard based onexperiential influence.

A standard involving moralmotivation


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Universal Criterion

An a priori criterion.

Must be absolute and obligatory.

It can never be hypothetical nor tentative.


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Hypothetical v Categorical Imperative

An imperative demands

performance of an actionfor the sake of some other

end.

A person does a thing inorder to achieve a

legitimate goal and to

produce a desirable result.

If it unconditionallydemands performance of

an action for its own sake.


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Imperative

A command. It commands people to exercise their wills in a

particular way, not to perform some action or other.

Categorical

People possess rational wills.

Without reference to any ends they might or mightnot achieve.


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A test or method of determination on whether ornot a specific act is considered to be morally right,

morally wrong or somewhere beyond moral realm.


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It commands each individual to regard him asdetermining, by its decision to act in a certain way.

That everyone (including himself) will always act

according to the same general rule in the future. No person would accept a proposal that would

contradict itself.

It is an impetus whether an act is moral or not.


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Sense of Striving for Rightness


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Rightness and Categorical Imperative


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T

he conception of rightness Right has regard only to the external and practical relation of

one person to another, in so far as they can have influence upon

each other , immediately or mediately , by their actions as facts

The conception of right does not indicate the relation of the

action of an individual to the wish of the mere desire of another

, as in acts of benevolence or of unkindness, but only therelation of his free action to the freedom of action of the other

In this reciprocal relation of voluntary actions, the conception of

right does not take into consideration the matter of act of will in

so far as the end which any one may have in view in willing it, isconcerned


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Kants categorical imperatives

2. Treat humans as ends in themselves Kant

argues that you should never treat people as ameans to some end. People should always betreated as ends in themselves. This promotesequality.

"Act in such a way that you treat humanity,whether in your own person or in the

personof any other, always at the same time as an

end and never merely as a means to an end."


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Kants categorical imperatives

3. Act as if you live in a kingdom of ends Kant

assumed that all rational agents were able todeduce whether an argument was moral or not

through reason alone and so, all rational humans

should be able to conclude the same moral laws.

"Therefore, every rational being must so act as if he

were through his maxim always a legislatingmember in the universal kingdom of ends."


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Kant On The Golden Rule

Kant states that what he is saying is not

the same as the Golden Rule; that the

Golden Rule is derived from thecategorical imperative with limitations.

That, under the Golden Rule many things

cannot be universal.


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The Metalegal Basis of Law


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A priori versus posteriori Kant distinguishes between a prioriknowledge,

which is based on reason, and a posterioriknowledge, which is based on experience.A prioriknowledge may be pure, if it has no empiricalelement, or impure if it has an empirical element.

A prioritruths are logically necessary truths, whilea posterioritruths are empirical, contingent truths.

A priorijudgments are characterized by logical

necessity and by strict universality.A posteriorijudgements are not characterized by logical

necessity or by absolute universality.


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Kants transcendental philosophy


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T

ranscendental Aesthetic

The beginning of knowledge is in sensibility, inthe reception of sensations. In order toconstitute knowledge, sensations must be

located in space, if they come to us throughthe external senses; and in time, i.e.,succeeding one another, no matter what their

origin -- even if they be simple states ofconsciousness, such as pleasure and pain.


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T d t l Di l ti


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Transcendental Dialectic

The classification of sensible intuitions, performed by the

intellect through its categories, does not attain perfect

unity. It remains always in the world of phenomena, in a

phenomenal series which extends itself indefinitely in

space and time. Within us, however, there is the tendency

to achieve a definite unification of phenomena, and as aconsequence there arise in us certain "ideas" which serve

as a point of reference and organization for the totality of

phenomena. These "ideas" are personal ego, the unifying

principle of all internal phenomena; the external world, the

unifying principle of all phenomena coming from without;

and God, the unifying principle of all phenomena,

regardless of their origin.

h


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The Kantian Concept

Rianne Mae Bautista

Georgia Gascon

Charlotte Lyza Sayson

Kantian Concept

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