Key Philosophers
Philosophers Assignment
Immanuel Kant: The German Philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is one of the central figures in Modern Philosophy. In the The Methaphysik der Sitten (1797) (Methaphysics of Ethics) Kant described his ethical system.
In short, the three fundamental elements in Kant’s System are:
1. Individuals are rational beings; They have a conception of laws or principles, the ability to make choices on the basis of reason and act on those choices. It is rationality that distinct us humans from other parts of nature, and also what enables us to understand the correctness of moral laws. With this sense of rationality a person can choose to do what is right in spite of the influence of desires and appetites.
2. Individuals have an intrinsic value; meaning that people have value in and of themselves. They are not only means they are ends also.
3. Individuals are the author of the moral law; this means that individuals are autonomous, they are not subject to control from outside, they are independent and subject to its own laws only.
It was also Kant who stated that your passions and inclinations cloud your reason (reason: the final authority for morality). The distinction between your passions and your reasons are the distinction between your higher self and your lower self. Your real self is your higher self (your reason, your rationality), and your lower self is your passions and inclinations.
According to Kant you are moral when you follow your higher self over your lower self, meaning that you follow your reason over your passions and inclinations. However, if you do the right thing for the wrong reason you are not a moral person; a true moral person acts out of principle, actions of any sort must be undertaken from a sense of duty dictated by reason (which is what gives an action moral worth). Actions taken using the ethics of duty lack self-interest, without a concern for the consequences and often without compassion, if doing your
Immanuel Kant: The German Philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is one of the central figures in Modern Philosophy. In the The Methaphysik der Sitten (1797) (Methaphysics of Ethics) Kant described his ethical system.
In short, the three fundamental elements in Kant’s System are:
1. Individuals are rational beings; They have a conception of laws or principles, the ability to make choices on the basis of reason and act on those choices. It is rationality that distinct us humans from other parts of nature, and also what enables us to understand the correctness of moral laws. With this sense of rationality a person can choose to do what is right in spite of the influence of desires and appetites.
2. Individuals have an intrinsic value; meaning that people have value in and of themselves. They are not only means they are ends also.
3. Individuals are the author of the moral law; this means that individuals are autonomous, they are not subject to control from outside, they are independent and subject to its own laws only.
It was also Kant who stated that your passions and inclinations cloud your reason (reason: the final authority for morality). The distinction between your passions and your reasons are the distinction between your higher self and your lower self. Your real self is your higher self (your reason, your rationality), and your lower self is your passions and inclinations.
According to Kant you are moral when you follow your higher self over your lower self, meaning that you follow your reason over your passions and inclinations. However, if you do the right thing for the wrong reason you are not a moral person; a true moral person acts out of principle, actions of any sort must be undertaken from a sense of duty dictated by reason (which is what gives an action moral worth). Actions taken using the ethics of duty lack self-interest, without a concern for the consequences and often without compassion, if doing your