Rehabilitating Reason
1/ Answer all the questions below.This week we discussed Immanuel Kant. Kant follows in the path of Descartes and Locke. He broadens our horizons of not only what and how we come to know but further what is and what we ought to do.
What does Kant say about how we view the world? What are the different types of knowledge that we can have? What judgements can we make about the world?
Have you ever made any judgements that were biased? How is this related to how things ‘appear’ to you rather than how they actually are? Where would Kant say these biases come from?
How does the following chart from my lecture fit into all of this?
How do the above questions link up or relate to Kant’s moral philosophy?
How is the categorical imperative used to determine whether or not an act is moral? Do you agree with Kant’s claim that our actions must be “universalized” rather than considering each situation on its own? Why or why not?
What is the primary objection to the categorial imperative and Kant’s moral philosophy in general?
2/You need to reply to at least 2 postings below agree or disagree, each reply must be unique and be a minimum of 3 sentences.
Post #1:What Kant is saying that we can have knowledge about the basic laws of modern science and those laws reflect the human minds contribution to structuring our experience. There are two types of knowledge that we can have. It is Posteriori and Priori knowledge; Priori knowledge can be acquired independently of any particular experience. Posteriori knowledge is derived from experience.
- I have a bias towards Pitbull dogs because I always see videos of them being aggressive while attacking. Every time I see a Pitbull dog, my body tenses up and I would start to fast walk away from the dog. I would start to stay away from any dogs that would come close too me. This relates to how things appeared to me because I understand that every dog is not mean. It is how the person trains their dog and if they are not trained properly, they would go into a full rampage mode with no training experience. What Kant is trying to say is that it comes from our experience and the way people who are biased towards the things they have experience.
- What the chart is saying is how we as humans see the world and what they have experienced already. The middle represents what humans have seen in reality and what is seen from the persons ego.
- Kant’s moral philosophy wants us to understand the objective reality and it will probably will lead us and understand of an objective morality. The way we see the world and from the different types of views we have experienced.
- The categorical impetrate is that all people would have to follow it if it were a universal law. I don’t agree with Kant because everyone’s situation is different from others.
Post #2:1. Kant explains that we have knowledge about basic laws because these laws reflect the human mind and our experience, our minds create an image of the world according to what we perceive, Kant believes that the world is not the way it seems as it is not a real reflection of what/how the world really is. According to Kant there are different types of knowledge including A Posteriori and A Priori where A Posteriori knowledge requires experience to understand the concept and A Priori knowledge can be understood without any further knowledge than what we already have experienced. We can make judgements about the world based by phenomenal world which is experience from your views, how you see the world. or noumenal world which is the outside world, according to Kant our minds cannot understand the noumenal world as our minds are not created in such ways.
- I have certainly made biased judgments as everybody has, I once had a biased opinion of black Toyota cars after I got into a bad accident where I was hit by a black Toyota totaling my car, after this incident while driving on the road I was afraid and believed that this specific make and model car was going to hit my car and therefore I would stay away from these specific cars on the road. This relates to how things appear to me rather than how they actually are because although this car appeared to me that it was going to hit my car that was not the case rather the person driving the car at the time of the accident hit my car not the car by itself. Kant believes that these biases come from our experiences and the formula of the end itself as the people who are biased act in such a way that treat humanity in a specific way.
- The chart from the lectures fit into all of this as the chart explains how we see the world and experience and view ideas, the chart explains where things overlap and what is seen in reality and what is seen from a persons ego.
- Kant’s moral philosophy is whether or not moral duty is being answered and completed this relates to the questions above as the moral philosophy is they way that we see the world and the different types of knowledge that we have putting this with Kant’s moral philosophy our experiences and knowledge come from completing or ignoring our moral duties.
- The categorical imperative is used to determine whether an act is moral or not if the act would be used towards all people and if it would be rational for people to follow as if it was a universal law. I do not agree with Kant’s clam that our actions must be “universalized” rather than considering each situation as it’s own, I think that situations are all different in some way and therefore may not or cannot be treated and responded to in the same way as it would be if it was universal.
