The slides are about Immanuel Kant and his Categorical Imeratives.

1. THE 18TH CENTURY
WESTERN
PHILOSOPHER

2. Born in 1724 in Konigsberg, the capital of Prussia at that time, today the city
of Kaliningard in Russia.
After learning Hebrew, he changed his name from ‘Emanuel’ to ‘Immanuel’.
His first philosophical work, Thoughts on the True Estimation of Living
Forces, was published in 1749.
In 1754, he won the Berlin Academy Prize for an astronomical discovery, viz.
the Discovery of the Retardation of the Rotation of the Earth.
He created a new widespread perspective in philosophy which influenced
philosophy through to the 21st Century.

3. MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS
Categorical Imperative
General Natural History and Theory of the Heavens
Critique of Pure Reason
Critique of Practical Reason
Critique of Judgment

4. • Imperative: expresses
command or obligation
• Hypothetical imperative: “If
you are in circumstance C (or
want D), then do A.”
• Categorical imperative: “Do
A.”

5. • Hypothetical imperatives
are conditional:
• If . . . do . . . . or
If . . . don’t . . . .
• depend on circumstances,
goals, desires
• means to end: qualified
goods

6. • “Do . . .” or “Don’t . . .”
• Independent of goals,
desires, circumstances
• Applies universally
• Appropriate to unqualified
goods
• There is only one
unqualified good—
• a good will

7. • There is only one possible
categorical imperative:
• “You ought to have a good
will”
• Good will acts only on
universal considerations
• “You ought to act on
universal considerations”
• “You ought to act on
principle”

8. General Natural Theory and Theory of Heavens
Kant's most striking early contribution to knowledge, however, was his General
Natural History and Theory of the Heavens (1755).
He had two noteworthy theories in physics and astronomy:
Nebular Hypothesis Spiral Nebulae
Nebular Hypothesis: He reasoned that diffuse nebulae, dim clouds of dust and gas
that were only first being well observed in his lifetime, would collapse under the force of
gravity. The theory was given mathematical form by French mathematician ‘Laplace’, as
Kant was not himself much of a mathematician.
Spiral Nebulae: Kant's idea was that the tiny spiral nebulae were themselves external
galaxies, "island universes" independent of the Milky Way. There was really no evidence
for this. It was just a guess. But in 1924, Edwin Hubble proved that they were in external
galaxies. KANT was right. If we ask who the first person was to conceive the form of the
universe as we now see it, filled with "billions and billions" of galaxies, the answer is just:
Immanuel Kant, a man who never left East Prussia and who never saw a mountain.

9. Critique of Pure Reason
The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant, first published in 1781,
second edition 1787, is one of the most influential works in the history of
philosophy.
Pure reason concludes that there is a Being who is the most real thing
conceivable. Kant called this Supreme Being, or God, the Ideal of Pure
Reason because it exists as the highest and most complete condition of the
possibility of all objects.
The Paralogisms of Pure Reason
The Discipline of Pure Reason
The Canon of Pure Reason
The History of Pure Reason

10. Critique of Practical Reason
The Critique of Practical Reason concentrates on ethics.
It is based only upon things about which reason can tell us, and not deriving
any principles from experience, to reach conclusions which are able to be
applied to the world of experience
In this critique, Kant stated the practical necessity for a belief in God.
He adds that the idea of God cannot be separated from the relation of
happiness with morality as the "ideal of the supreme good."
The foundation of this connection is an intelligible moral world, and "is
necessary from the practical point of view";[

11. Critique of Judgment
It investigates aesthetics and teleology.
In aesthetic theory, Kant investigates the possibility and logical status of
“judgment of taste”.
The "Critique of Aesthetic Judgment," was the first major division of the
Critique of Judgment.
A pure judgment of taste is in fact subjective in so far, as it refers to the
emotional response of the subject and is based upon nothing but
esteem for an object itself.
Kant was one of the first philosophers to develop and integrate
aesthetic theory into a unified and comprehensive philosophical
system.

12. OBLIGATIONS: HE ASKS:
• DEONTOLOGICAL/NONCON • “WHAT IF EVERYBODY DID
SEQUENTIALIST BASED ON THAT?” (and he assumes we
REASON AND WILL will all get the same answer
REQUIRES DISCIPLINE AND if we are disciplined and
SELF CONTROL REQUIRES honest)
DOING THE RIGHT THING • Proposes an ideal world of
FOR THE RIGHT REASON self-directed individuals --
• ETHICS IS NOT CONTINGENT “THE KINGDOM OF ENDS”
UPON ONE’S FEELINGS NOR
UPON THE CULTURE;
RATHER, IT IS ABSOLUTE
(CATEGORICAL)

13. • The Admirable Side of Acting from Duty
– The person of duty remains committed, not matter
how difficult things become.
• The Evenhandedness of Morality
– Kantian morality does not play favorites.
• Respecting Other Persons
– The notion of treating persons as ends in themselves is
central to much of modern ethics.

14. • The Neglect of Moral Integration
– The person of duty can have deep and conflicting
inclinations and this does not decrease moral worth—
indeed, it seems to increase it in Kant’s eyes.
• The Role of Emotions
– For Kant, the emotions are always suspect because they
are fickle and causally determined and passive.
• The Place of Consequences in the Moral Life
– In order to protect the moral life from the vicissitude of
moral luck, Kant held a very strong position that refused to
attach moral blame to individuals who were acting with
good will, even though some indirect bad consequences
could be forseen.

15. Overall, after two hundred years, Kant
remains an absolutely central figure in
contemporary moral philosophy, one from
whom we can learn much even when we
disagree with him.

16. Plaque on a wall in Kaliningrad, in
German and Russian, with the words
taken from the conclusion of Kant's
Critique of Practical Reason: Two things
fill the mind with ever new and
increasing admiration and awe, the
more often and steadily we reflect upon
them: The starry heavens above me and
the moral law within me. (The wall is
next to where the southwest part of
Konigsberg Castle used to be.)