Immanuel Kant
Enlightenment Philosopher
Immanuel Kant
life
Immanuel Kant 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804 was an influential flatterer. He studied at Collegium Fridericianum and then the University of Königsberg. After graduating went on to become a private tutor in Königsberg. Between 1749 and 1799 he published several dozen political and philosophical works.
WORKS
Of his philosophical works during this period, Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals (1785), Critique of Practical Reason (1788), and Metaphysics of Morals (1797) remain most influential today.
death
Kantian ethics has developed since his death on 12 February 1804. As system of morality that is derived from the aggregate of his philosophical works.
IMMANUEL kANT REFLECTING gORGIAS
significant quotes
“ All practical principles which presuppose an object (matter) of the faculty of desire as the ground of determination of the will are empirical and can furnish no practical laws. By the matter of the faculty of desire I mean an object the realization of which is desired. Now, if the desire for this object precedes the practical rule and is the condition of our making it a principle, then I say (in the first place) this principle is in that case wholly empirical, for then what determines the choice is the idea of an object and that relation of this idea to the subject by which its faculty of desire is determined to its realization. Such a relation to the subject is called the pleasure in the realization of an object. This, then, must be presupposed as a condition of the possibility of determination of the will. But it is impossible to know a priori of any idea of an object whether it will be connected with pleasure or pain, or be indifferent. In such cases, therefore, the determining principle of the choice must be empirical and, therefore, also the practical material principle which presupposes it as a condition.”
Kant like Gorgias was uninspired by the cognitive powers of humanity. He rejected the idea that an individual was capable of making a discovery of principle that could be applied universally. Kant did this in a very clever way.
He argued that attaining a goal is derived from seeking the pleasure of attaining the goal. Since no one experiences pleasure or pain in the same manner or to the same degree, he argued that it would be impossible to for one individual’s desired outcome to be universally applicable to all humanity.
Since all creative discoveries take place with in the mind of an individual, and since the hypothesis that generates them is founded on a desire, he is able to conclude with very little resistance from the reader, that no individual, be it Socrates, Plato, or implicitly, even Einstein is capable of discovering a universal principle that is unknown to society at large.
““what determines the choice is the idea of an object and that relation of this idea to the subject by which its faculty of desire is determined to its realization. Such a relation to the subject is called the pleasure”
As was the case with Gorgias, Immanuel Kant exalted to the domain of the persuader. But while many follower of Gorgias simply excluded the work of Socrates and Plato. Immanuel Kant superficially co-opted it under the orator umbrella of seeking pleasure.
By conflating a pursuit of lawfulness with a pursuit of pleasure, Kant was able convince his reader to accept arbitrary rule. Since lawfulness arises within an individual human mind, and since in arises in pursuit of pleasure, and because pleasure is based on experience and experience unique to each individual, it is impossible for an individual to discover a universal law applicable to all.
““a principle which is based on this subjective condition may serve indeed as a maxim for the subject which possesses this susceptibility, but not as a law even to him (because it is wanting in objective necessity, which must be recognized a priori); it follows, therefore, that such a principle can never furnish a practical law.”