Paper Summary:

This paper focuses on the importance of thinking and volition when considering how Immanuel Kant's ethical theory differs from other theories of ethics. The author discusses ideas from "The Critique of Pure Reason" and "The Critique of Practical Reason", highlighting key points such as Kants' categorical imperative project, and the role of personal thought within his philosophy.

From the Paper:

"Kant's philosophical position on thinking and reason is a reaction to the earlier movements, which may be classified into two broad groups - Empiricism and Rationalism. Empiricism had its protagonists in the likes of Locke, Berkeley and Hume, who argued that all knowledge has its origin in our sensations. Kant refutes all these arguments because they ignore one set of functions like reasoning altogether, and also base their arguments on assumptions, which negate the very position that they have taken, and have set out to prove.
The other school of thought, to which Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz belonged, holds that the external world is knowable by inference from the knowledge one has. Kant argues that this is again flawed because this can lead to contradictory situations, wherein logic may be used to prove both of a set of two conflicting assumptions. So a position that everything can be known by interference is also flawed."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Levesque, Chantal and Pelletier, Luc. (2003). On the Investigation of Primed and Chronic Autonomous and Heteronomous Motivational Orientations. Sage Publications. Retrieved on 8th October 2006 from http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:ZQ_uqvyc2X0J:www.psych.rochester.edu/SDT/documents/2003LevesquePelletier.pdf+autonomous+and+heteronomous&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2.
• Richards, Stephen. (2006). The Categorical Imperative: An Evaluation. Pelusa Media Group. Retrieved on 12th October 2006 from http://www.faithnet.org.uk/A2%20Subjects/Ethics/catergoricalimperative_critique.htm
• Kant, I. (1883). Kant's Critique of Practical Reason and Other Works on the Theory of Ethics (Abbott, T. K., Trans.) (3rd Rev. ed.). London: Longmans, Green.

Visitors who viewed this Analytical Essay also liked these:

• Analytical Essay # 145253 : "Ethical Theories"
• Essay # 116112 : "Ethical Theory"
• Essay # 98223 : "Kant and Ethics"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: