KantPhilosophy Through the Centuries

BRENT SILBYUnlimited (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 knowabout. We can find out about the world through reason alone.

Empiricists:There is no such world. We can only know about the sensibleworld (i.e. the world we see). We find out about the world throughobservation.

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 wouldnever be able to explain how we got to the present. This isbecause an infinite amount of time would have passed beforewe got to this year. And an infinite amount of time wouldtake 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 otheryou first need to get half way there. Before that you need toget quarter way there…etc. Will never get to the other side.

Freewill/Determinism paradoxHow can we live in a causal universe (governed by strictlaws 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 isindependent from us. It impresses itself on our minds and itstructures our minds.

The universe and objects are things in themselves. We have accessto appearances only.

Kant said “no!” He said we are born with minds and the worldmust 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 onmind.

NOUMENAL: Universe is what the universe is in itself.

We can’t know the noumenal objects directly. The noumenal worldis a timeless, formless, collection of existence that we can notunderstand directly.

PHENOMENAL: Objects are the way things appear to us after westamp our Space/Time constructs on Noumenal objects.

We can experience phenomenal objects. They are our interpretation of the noumenal objects.

Kant’s view of the Universe

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

We look to the bible to find out what is right and wrong…e.g. murder is wrong

Delicious Biblecake

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 wecan choose which parts, then we already have an idea of what is rightand wrong. The bible is not needed as a moral guide.

A common theory of EthicsUtilitarianism (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 totalhappiness because the thief gains more happiness than islost by the people who were robbed. In this case theUtilitarian would say that stealing food was right

Another problem for Utilitarianism:A world with 6 billion people each with a happiness factor of 10is a better place than a world of 1 million people each with a happinessfactor of 100.

1000000

100

100

10

6000000000

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 happinessin 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 becomea 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 logicalcontradiction.

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 unbreakablecommitment 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 beuniversalized.

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 cannottreat that person as a means to satisfy your own good. You oughtnever 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 UPTChristchurch, New Zealand

www.unlimited.school.nz