Kant

• The enlightenment period was a period of liberation from old religious structures
• The enlightenment period focused on reason
• The enlightenment period focused on people determining their own values rather than being dealt them by a higher authority
• Plato and Aristotle were professional philosophers as they established places of learning and wrote books
• Anselm and Aquinas are considered thinkers as they were professionally clergymen
• Descartes (the Father of modern philosophy) was an aristocrat who dabbled in philosophy
• Hume was a writer, better known in his day for being a historian
• Kant was a German mathematician and scientist who later turned to philosophy
• Kant was a German protestant influenced by the Pietist tradition (personal experience over rational arguments in religion)
• Kant was an unorthodox Christian who relied on rationalism and not revelation
• Kant was influenced by many different denominations and can argue from all perspectives
• Kant was the first major professional scholar of modern times
• When was Kant banned from writing about religion?

  1792
• What did Kant attempt to argue in 'Universal natural History of an Theory of the Heavens'?

  That Newton's physical laws could explain the universe without the need for an external creator God
• What did Kant argue in 'Groundwork of a Metaphysics of Morals'?

  Morality should be based on reason rather than feelings, consequences or religion
• Kant argued that our senses can be wrong, and all a posteriori knowledge is based on senses
• Kant looked at morality in the same way as knowledge, that it is based on pure reason
• “We see the world as we do, not because our minds conform to what is ‘out there’ but because our minds organise our experience” - Kant  
• Kant argued that morality cannot be based on the evidence of the senses; people have an inherent sense of right and wrong
• Kant believed people had certain duties, their 'good will'
• "Good will shines forth like a precious jewel"- Kant
• For Kant, duty involves freely choosing the action
• "The autonomy of the will is the sole principle of all moral laws"- Kant
• Autonomy- the freedom to make choices
• Autonomous agent- someone who is free to make choices
• Categorical imperative- something human beings are duty bound to do, whatever the circumstances. Not dependent on external forces
• Hypothetical imperative- something human beings ought to do to achieve a certain end
• Hypothetic imperatives argue that the reason for an action is related to an outcome
• Kant argues that hypothetical imperatives are no use as he is looking for an absolute moral rule and these judgements are based on outcome, not morality
• Hypothetical imperatives are teleological, which Kant despised