Immanuel Kant was born in 1724 in the East Prussian town of KÖnigsberg and lived there practically all his life. He came from a deeply pious Lutheran family, and his own religious convictions formed a significant background to his philosophy. Like Berkeley, he felt it was essential to preserve the foundations of Christian belief.
Kant became Professor of Logic and Metaphysics at the University of KÖnigsberg in 1770 and taught there for most of his life. He was also greatly interested in science and published works on astronomy and geophysics.
His three most significant works were published later in life. The Critique of Pure Reason came out in 1781, followed in 1788 by the Critique of Practical Reason and in 1790 by the Critique of Judgment. The Critique of Pure Reason is one of the most important works in the whole of philosophy. Unfortunately it is also one of the most unreadable - Kant himself described it as dry and obscure.
Kant had generally been an outgoing and friendly man but towards the end of his life his mental faculties and his sight deteriorated badly. He died a shadow of his former self, aged 80. One of his most quoted sayings is carved on his gravestone in KÖnigsberg: "Two things fill my mind with ever-increasing wonder and awe, the more often and the more intensely the reflection dwells on them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me".
IDEAS.
Kant believed that there are clear limits to what we can know. You could perhaps say that the mind's "glasses" set these limits.
The philosophers before Kant had discussed the really "big" questions - for instance, whether man has an immortal soul, whether there is a God, whether nature consists of tiny indivisible particles, and whether the universe is finite or infinite. Kant believed there was no certain knowledge to be obtained on these questions. In such great philosophical questions, he thought that reason operates beyond the limits of what we humans can comprehend.
According to Kant, morality is a priori. ... Central to Kant's theory of morality is deontology that is duty-based ethics. Kant said, "An action done from duty must be wholly exclude the influence of inclination". ... Kant said "to deviate from the principle of duty is beyond all doubt wicked". ... Kant formulates what he calls the Categorical Imperative. ...
According to Kant, morality is a priori. ... Central to Kant's theory of morality is deontology that is duty-based ethics. Kant said, "An action done from duty must be wholly exclude the influence of inclination". ... Kant said "to deviate from the principle of duty is beyond all doubt wicked". ... Kant formulates what he calls the Categorical Imperative. ...
In this paper, I will examine what the transcendental schema is, and how Kant explains it. ... Kant opens up the Schematism by restating that there needs to be a medium through which the a priori concepts can relate to intuitions. ... In proving this, Kant must naturally show how the categories can relate to intuition. ... However, Kant goes on to state the exact time determinations, made possible by the imagination, of the categories. ... Kant's whole notion of the categories would be useless if he cannot find a way to supply the categories with intuitions. ...
That is why I have chosen to do my final paper on Immanuel Kant. ... In one box were a few books about Immanuel Kant. ... Immanuel Kant was born in 1724 in Konigsberg, East Prussia. ... This is where Kant determined effectiveness to be prudential. ... Thus, Kant derived what is known as the categorical imperative. ...
Critically discuss Kant's understanding of freedom. ... The main purpose of this essay is to critically discuss Kant's understanding of freedom. ... I will begin by briefly, explain Kant's main arguments in "Critique of Pure Reason" that link to his idea on freedom and then critically discuss what shows Kant's to be wrong, regarding freedom. ... Note from the extract above, Kant compare freedom as nature. ... Kant says, "we could not prove freedom to be something actual in ourselves and in human nature. ...
Part A Kant's description of Enlightenment as "man's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity" is a somewhat pertinent definition, solidifying the quintessential ideas of Enlightenment to a certain degree in a brief sentence. ... Kant also outlines the fact that man's self-incurred immaturity is partially as a result of his reluctance to independence. "I need not make any effort at all" In this part of this article, Kant explains how a great degree of our lives involves being dependent upon others to provide, and function for us. ... In the article, Kant also articu...
This subjective deduction is just one the strategies Kant uses to make his point. ... Here Kant demonstrates the a priori nature of space and time. ... Kant states that this is a condition that s fundamental to what follows. ... Kant uses an example of counting. ... Kant also speaks of pure concepts of understanding as the a priori grounds....
The Categorical Imperative has been the subject of debate since Kant first wrote his moral works. ... Duncan's answer to his first question is that "Kant himself appears to speak as if there were only three:- Two passages of the groundwork suggest that Kant himself intended there to be three subsidiary principles and the supreme moral principle. ... Kant insists in several places in his doctrine that the imperative must be categorical and not hypothetical. ... But isn't Kant really using the Formula Ia, not Formula I, in these examples? ... So, it seems clear that Kant is using t...
(notes) Kant view is that animals instruments for us to use. ... Kant's criterion for moral status is based on rationality. ... I agree with Kant about our moral duties to animals. ... Singer objects to Kant and would surely object to my views. ... I fully side with Kant on this issue. ...
Why does Kant reject the notion that man's end is happiness, or even survival? ... How does Kant's treatment of generosity differ from Hume's? Under what conditions does a generous act have "moral content" for Kant? ... Kant defines duty as "necessity of an action out of respect for law." ... In what circumstances, for Kant, might one lie? ...
