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Kant
Philosophy Through the Centuries
BRENT SILBY
Unlimited (UPT)
Immanuel Kant 1724-1804
Immanuel Kant 1724-1804
Today…
1
Kant’s view of the reality
2
Kant’s ethics
Immanuel Kant 1724-1804
Kant wanted to discover the possible limits of our knowledge.
He wanted to settle debate between Empiricists and Rationalists.
Rationalists:
There is a world distinct from the sensible world that we know
about. We can find out about the world through reason alone.
Empiricists:
There is no such world. We can only know about the sensible
world (i.e. the world we see). We find out about the world through
observation.
Kant’s journey led him to discover a number of paradoxes…
He called these “Antinomies”
The Space/Time Paradox:
Suppose that time extends infinitely back. Then you would
never be able to explain how we got to the present. This is
because an infinite amount of time would have passed before
we got to this year. And an infinite amount of time would
take forever, so we could never get here.
But…
That means time must have a beginning.
And this is a problem because if time had a beginning, there
must be some event before that beginning (the event that caused
time to start). But for an event to occur before another event
means that it must have occurred in time…
(the definition of “before”).
So it seems that time does extend infinitely back.
Zeno’s Paradox:
If you want to move from one side of the room to the other
you first need to get half way there. Before that you need to
get quarter way there…etc. Will never get to the other side.
Freewill/Determinism paradox
How can we live in a causal universe (governed by strict
laws of nature) and still be truly free?
We will talk more about this in the next session
Kant’s solution to these types of problem was a revolution
Our common sense view is that there is a world out there that is
independent from us. It impresses itself on our minds and it
structures our minds.
Kant said “no!” He said we are born with minds and the world
must conform to our minds.
Our minds structure the world.
Our minds bring the world into order so that we can understand it.
Space/time is dependent on subjective experience--dependent on
mind.
The universe and objects are things in themselves. We have access
to appearances only.
Kant’s view of the Universe
NOUMENAL: Universe is what the universe is in itself.
We can’t know the noumenal objects directly. The noumenal world
is a timeless, formless, collection of existence that we can not
understand directly.
PHENOMENAL: Objects are the way things appear to us after we
stamp our Space/Time constructs on Noumenal objects.
We can experience phenomenal objects. They are our interpretation
of the noumenal objects.
Kant’s ethics are based on his approach to knowledge
Kant is a rationalist, so his ethical theories need to be founded in logic.
A traditional view of ethics:
We gain our ethical knowledge
from the Bible
Delicious Biblecake
We look to the bible to find out what is right and wrong…
e.g. murder is wrong
Problem with this:
Much of the bible is a terrible moral guide.
People say that only parts of the bible are a good moral guide. But if we
can choose which parts, then we already have an idea of what is right
and wrong. The bible is not needed as a moral guide.
A common theory of Ethics
Utilitarianism (greatest good theory)
An action is right if it increases happiness in the world.
Problem with this:
What about stealing food. It could be that it increases total
happiness because the thief gains more happiness than is
lost by the people who were robbed. In this case the
Utilitarian would say that stealing food was right
Another problem for Utilitarianism:
A world with 6 billion people each with a happiness factor of 10
is a better place than a world of 1 million people each with a happiness
factor of 100.
100
10
6000000000
100
1000000
6000000000
What about a pleasure machine?
Would it be right for all humans to be hooked up to a pleasure machine?
How about forcing people to be hooked up to pleasure machine against
their will?
According to Utilitarianism it is right to do this because happiness
in the world would be higher.
Kant has a different type of ethical theory.
Kant’s 2 rules of ethics:
Rule # 1: Only act if it makes sense that the action could be a universal
rule, i.e. That everyone can act that way ALL THE TIME.
Why?
It all comes down to logic.
Can it ever be right to lie?
By Kant’s rule 1, it is never right to lie because lying can never become
a universal rule.
Imagine if everyone told nothing but lies. That would mean that
“telling the truth” is telling something that is never true. That’s a logical
contradiction.
Or try this example:
Is it ever right to break a promise?
Imagine that it is a universal law that all promises are always broken.
This would mean that the concept of a promise is contradictory.
This is because a promise would by definition “be an unbreakable
commitment that is always broken”.
This is a logical contradiction and so therefore cannot be right.
What about if a madman with a gun burst into this room and asked us
“Where is Braden?”
Is it okay to lie?
Kant says no. It is never okay to lie because lying cannot be
universalized.
Tell the man the truth, and the moral burden of the resulting action sits
on his shoulders. We are safe in the knowledge that we did the morally
right thing by not lying.
Rule #2:
Always treat rational beings as an end in themselves,
never a means to an end.
Whenever your actions involve another person, your action cannot
treat that person as a means to satisfy your own good. You ought
never to use someone else for your own gain.
You can see that this rule is nicely compatible with rule #1.
Powerpoint by BRENT SILBY
Produced at UPT
Christchurch, New Zealand
www.unlimited.school.nz