Moral reason is self-determination (Will)
Reason is not the pursuit of happiness.
Choose the law so that anyone can act in accordance with it (categorical
imperative = practical reason)
Categorical imperative:
"There is therefore but one categorical imperative, which may be thus
stated: Act in conformity with that
maxim, and that maxim only, which you can at the same time will to be a
universal law."
(Kant, I 1785
s.2 in
Watson, J.
1927
p.241)
"Act so that the will may regard itself as in its maxims laying down
universal laws."
(Kant, I 1785
s.2 in
Watson, J.
1927)
p.241
FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF PURE PRACTICAL REASON:
"So act that the maxim of your will could always hold at the same time as
a principle establishing
universal law."
Kant, I 1788
Book 1, Chapter 1, Principle 7. in
Beck, L.W.
1963
Political Philosophy in Universal History
(From Valerie Argent's notes)
Based on
Kant 1784/Universal
in Reiss, H.
1970
"The will's manifestations, i.e. human actions are determined in accordance
with natural laws, as is every
natural event."
"Individual men and even entire nations little imagine that, while they
are pursuing their own ends, each
in his own way and often in opposition to others, they are unwittingly
guided in their advance along a
course intended by nature."
(Kant 1784/Universal in Reiss, H.
1970 p.41)
"In man (as the only rational creature on earth), those natural capacities
which are directed towards the
use of his reason are such that they could be fully developed only in the
species, but not in the
individual."
(Kant, I. 1784/Universal
(Second Proposition) in Reiss, H.
1970 p.42)
DEFINITION OF REASON:
"Reason, in a creature, is a faculty which enables that creature to extend
far beyond the limits of natural
instinct the rules and intentions it follows in using its various powers,
and the range of its projects is
unbounded. But reason does not itself work instinctively, for it requires
trial, practice and instruction to
enable it to progress gradually from one stage of insight to the next."
(Kant, I. 1784/Universal
(Second Proposition) in Reiss, H.
1970 p.42)
"Nature has willed that man should produce entirely by his own initiative
everything which goes beyond
the mechanical ordering of his animal existence, and that he should not
partake of any other happiness or
perfection than that which he has procured for himself without instinct
and by his own reason."
(Kant 1784/Universal
(Third Proposition) in Reiss, H.
1970 p.43)
Man meant to produce everything out of himself - no instinct or innate
knowledge, food, clothes, tools -
"just enough for the most pressing needs of the beginnings of existence".
"nature has worked more with a view to man's rational self-esteem than to
his mere well-being."
(Kant 1784/Universal
(Third Proposition) in Reiss, H.
1970 p.43)
Hardships to force man onward
"if he lives among others of his own species, man is an animal who needs a
master. For he certainly
abuses his freedom in relation to others of his own kind. And even though,
as a rational creature, he
desires a law to impose limits on the freedom of all, he is still misled
by his self-seeking animal
inclinations into exempting himself from the law where he can. He thus
requires a master to break his
self-will and force him to obey a universally valid will under which
everyone can be free."
(Kant 1784/Universal
(Sixth Proposition) in Reiss, H.
1970 p.46)
Morality and politics
Howard Williams (1983): "Kant recommends the moral course in
politics...Taking the moral course of
action gives the politician a
clear, direct path to follow. The moral course is one that is dictated by
the concept of right or justice,
and this course is not necessarily the same as the pursuit of the
happiness of the community. Although
this may appear to be its weakness it is in fact its strength; to try to
bring happiness to the community
would involve the pursuit, in Kant's view, of a myriad of conflicting
ends. The moral politician must
have before his eyes not a material goal, which will contribute to the
well-being of the community, but a
formal goal which will provide the conditions for individual freedom."
"...what a people may not decree for itself can even less be decreed for
them by a monarch, for his law
giving authority rests on his uniting the general public will in his own."
"Morality, as a collection of absolutely binding laws by which our actions
ought to be governed, belongs
essentially, in an objective sense, to the practical sphere."
(Kant 1795
in Reiss, H.
1970 p.116)
"reason.. is not sufficiently enlightened to discover the whole series of
predetermining causes which
would allow it to predict accurately the happy or unhappy consequences of
human activities as dictated by
the mechanism of nature, it can only hope that the result will meet with
its wishes. But reason at all time
shows us clearly enough what we have to do in order to remain in the paths
of duty, as the rules of
wisdom require, and thus shows us the way towards our ultimate goal."
(Kant 1795
in Reiss, H.
1970 p.116)
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