Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a philosopher who was interested in science and he made various contributions in science. Kant has published a wide range of works. That is the “critique of pure reason’’ and “the critique of practical reason’’ . Another work published by Kant is “the critique of judgment’’. There are various quotes that have been engraved on Kant’s graves. The quotes symbolize his work and contributions in the field of physics (Macquarrie 2003)
For example, “Two things fill my mind with ever-increasing wonder and awe, the more often and the more intensely the reflection dwells on them. The starry heavens above me and the moral law within me” is one of the quotes that is engraved in his grave. The philosopher made the conclusion after analyzing his works. The author has focused on knowledge in one of his works. In addition, the author analyzed morality in his work of metaphysics. In this case, the author has differentiated what is good and what is bad.
The author also argues that God cannot be separated from happiness and morality as he develops moral laws and brings happiness. The philosopher believed that there are restrictions on what people are able to know in the world. People in the world are restricted by the mind. The mind determines what people should know and what they should not know. For example, there is restriction on comprehending the world and other things (Godsey 2005).
The philosopher claims that moral laws fill him with fear and worry in his work. How the moral laws fill him with fear and wonder is evidenced by his argument on reasoning, morality and God. The author has had different views about reasoning, morality and God as he is influenced by morality (Godsey 2005).
There are two things that make people know the world. People are influenced by reason to understand the world. They are also influenced by sensory insight. The senses help people comprehend the world by gathering materials. The materials gathered are used to comprehend the universe. The material is always related to reason. For instance when people try to understand the origin of the world, the rationale does not take part (Macquarrie 2003).
This is because the rationale does not have content to process. In addition, rationale is not able to help people understand the beginning of the world as it does not have any experience that can be used to understanding the world. People are not able to understand the world totally and hence are not able to comprehend the universe. Kant used this example, to show how the opposing views have made it hard for him to understand the world. In addition, the author has used the illustration above to show how rationale affects people (Godsey 2005).
The author also states that the distinction between wrong and right is not influenced by rationale and experience. Instead wrong and right is determined by feeling. Kant argues that the difference between wrong and right is influenced by rationale, but not feelings. Distinguishing what is right and wrong is part of human rationale. Most people know what is right and wrong as it is found in their mind. Many people learn to differentiate what is right and wrong when the mind is developed. Thus, every person has the ability to differentiate what is wrong and right (Macquarrie 2003).
Additionally, morality shows how morality fills the author and result to fear and worry. The author argues that the ability to tell what is wrong and right is inborn like other elements that are related to reasoning. In this case, all people are clever as they are able to determine the informal relations and the common moral law. Kant developed the moral law to help people understand what is good and bad.
This implies that the law is applicable to all conditions. In addition, the moral law is also imperative as it is authoritative. Kant states that people should behave in a manner that they can wish their actions to become a common law. When people do things they should make sure other people are willing to do so (Macquarrie 2003).
The moral law fills him with fear and wonder because of its opposing points. Kant found it hard to understand many things as the moral law had opposing points. For example, the moral law can not be proved using reason, but it can be changed. The moral law in this case refers to human consciousness. It is difficulty for people to prove what is said by the conscious because they are not able to understand it (Macquarrie 2003).
In addition, the moral law fills him with fear and wonder because of the relationship between moral laws and God. The quote shows the nature thought of the philosophers. That is the moral laws and starring heavens. The moral thoughts and starring heavens had a great impression on Kant and also resulted to fear and wonder. The relationship between God and Moral laws remained difficulty for Kant. Kant did not believe that moral laws were imposed by institutions, but not human beings. He argued that moral laws cannot be imposed by an agency that is outside people who are being subjected to the law.
Apart from Kant, other people did not think that God makes moral laws and external truth. They argued that people should be able to know what is right and wrong before they recognize divine laws as divine. Hence, people should not recognize that God develops moral laws as they are able to differentiate what is bad and right. Most people based their arguments on enlightenment.
In addition, Kant claimed that God cannot develop laws as human beings are the one subjected to the law. Kant believed that Human beings should be given the opportunity to develop laws as they are governed by the laws. On the other hand, Kant believed that God developed moral laws. This is because he argued that religion educates people how to view the moral law as holy. The opposing views made it hard for Kant to understand the relationship between God and moral laws (Macquarrie 2003).
Kant argues that human beings have a sense of inner moral awareness and they are required to be righteous. Human beings are required to achieve the highest level of virtue instead of aiming for the average level. True virtue is awarded by joy. Kant indentified a common level that happiness and virtue are united. That is the highest moral good. Human beings are able to attain value, but they are not able to reward using happiness.
Thus, God must be there to award happiness and make the virtue and happiness unite. Additionally, Kant believed that human beings are flawed and are not able to attain the highest moral good. Hence, morality represents God and moral qualities exist as different entities. Though Kant believed there was no relationship between morality and God, he acknowledged the relationship after realizing that God represents Morality. (Godsey 2005).
Moreover, Kant showed that natural laws and moral laws are based on human reason.Kant derived his argument from nature and freedom. The author believed that laws of nature and freedom should be compatible as they are product of human reasoning that results from people’s experience. Kant based most of his arguments on morality. For example, he showed relations between nature and morality as stated above. He also based his argument about reasoning on morality. The author included morality in most of his works because he saw it important in understanding different things like the relationship between God and morality.
Though the author incorporated moral law in his argument he found it hard to understand the concepts. The moral law created fear which made it difficulty to explain his ideas. This is because of the opposing viewpoints. In conclusion, the starry heavens and the morality laws played an important role in the works of Kant as they influenced his thoughts and judgment in different ways. For instance, they influenced the reasoning and morality laws and God as stated above (Godsey 2005).
Reference
Godsey,R.K. The courage factor. Mercer University Press, 2005
Macquarrie,J.Stubborn theological questions. Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd, 2003
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