1. Immanuel Kant

2. Descartes began with the mind as the organ of reason and focusedon the process of rationalizing British empiricists took the second step in the turn, demonstratingthe importance of experience and the limits of reasonKants is the final step Critical analysis of what kind of knowledge we actually have And how the mind interacts with impressions and perceptionsKant wanted to prove that there is an objective world external to usand that our minds can interact with it Because our minds have the capacity for a priori knowledge wecan know certain things about experience because they line upwith innate ideas 3. Kant turned to an analysis (or critique) of howknowledge is possible. He posited an underlying structure imposed by themind on the sensations and perceptions it encounters.Transcendental idealism claims that knowledge is theresult of the interaction between the mind andsensation. Experience is shaped, or structured, by specialregulative ideas called categories. Kant suggested that instead of mind having toconform to what can be known, what can be knownmust conform to the mind. 4. Like colored glasses,experience is filtered by thecategories of our minds.Space, time, causality, etc. We understandexperiences based onthese categories becauseour minds are set up towork this way. 5. The phenomenal realm is what we perceive The noumenal realm is objective, comprised of things-in-themselvesWhat is the point of the phenomenal/noumenal duality?First, it explains the limits of our understanding He refutes the empiricist position that we simply cannot know anything through reason We can know a great deal of things, even if its not everythingSecond, this distinction is important for his moral philosophy Important that there be a level of objective reality behind, or beyond,what we experience Proposed transcendental ideas as the things that bridge this gap These would be a priori, not ideas derived from experience Triggered by experience They can validate and unify our experiences 6. Kant notes that very few people consistentlythink of their own moral judgments as merematters of custom or taste, as Hume would haveus believe. Whether we actually live up to our moraljudgments or not, we think of them asconcerned with how people ought to behave. Just as we cannot think or experience withoutassuming the principle of cause and effect, Kantthought we cannot function without a sense ofduty. 7. It is important to note that Kant conceives of the good willas a component of rationality, the only thing which isgood in itself. Kant argues that ought implies can by which he meansit must be possible for human beings to live up to theirmoral obligations (since circumstances can prevent usfrom doing the good we want to do). Thus, Kant reasons, I must not be judged on theconsequences of what I actually do, but on my reasons. Put another way, morality is a matter of motives.Intentions are what matters. As Kant himself said, Morality is not properly the doctrineof how we should make ourselves happy, but how weshould become worthy of happiness. 8. Inclinations are unreliable and inconstant, and so not what moralityshould be based on. Inclinations are not produced by reason. Animals act from inclination, not from will. In contrast to inclinations, acts of will reflect autonomy, the capacity tochoose clearly and freely for ourselves. Autonomy, or the ability to choose, is commonly understood as arequirement for moral responsibility. Kant says, Duty is the necessity of acting from respect for the morallaw. Duty does not serve our desires and preferences, but, rather, overpowersthem. Such moral duty cannot be based on what an individual wants to do,what he or she likes or doesnt like, or whether or not the individual caresabout the people involved. 9. Imperatives are forms of speech that commandsomeone, or tell them what to do. Kant distinguishestwo types of imperatives: hypothetical and categorical.Hypothetical imperative: a practical necessity whichserves as a means to some purpose. Hypothetical imperatives tell us what to do underspecific, variable conditions. They take the form, Ifthis, then do that. Any time we settle upon some purpose or goal, wereason how to achieve it. Subjective to our situation. 10. Categorical imperatives tells us what to do in order forour act to have moral worth. The categorical imperative is universally binding on allrational creatures, and this alone can guide the goodwill (which summons our powers to obey such animperative). I am never to act otherwise than so that I could alsowill that my maxim should become a universal law(First formulation) We should act in such a way that we would want themotivating principle of our action to become auniversal law. 11. Kant believed that as conscious, rational creatures, weeach possess intrinsic worth, a special moral dignity thatalways deserves respect. In other words, we are more than mere objects to beused to further this or that end.Kant formulates the categorical imperative around theconcept of dignity sometimes referred to as thepractical imperative. Act in such a way that you always treat humanity,whether in your own person or in the person ofanother, never merely as a means but always at thesame time as an end (Second formulation) 12. Strengths: Universality Reason Respect for personsProblems: Reason Motives alone Conflicts of interest