Kant's Paradox

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Immanuel Kant's "Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals" focuses on the study of morality and tries to give a clearer understanding of moral principles so that people can learn to avoid the distractions offered against true morality, claiming that "a free-will and a will subject to moral laws are one in the same." The author argues that, although Kant's linking of morality and freedom is not paradoxical on the shallow level, on the deeper level, Kant is defying his separation of determinism and free will with his ideas on rationality, which is indeed paradoxical. The paper relates that the way to disprove this paradox would be to show that all moral questions have been answered in the same way, which is not possible, because different cultures have different moral beliefs.

From the Paper:

"The first paradox in the above quote is easily explained away with look into Kant's ideas of imperatives. Kant supposed all rational beings act in obedience to objective principles determined by practical reason, act in accordance to a law. However, a rational being will also have subjective impulses--desires and inclinations that may contradict the dictates of reason. So we experience the claim of reason as an obligation, a command that we act in a particular way, or an imperative. Such imperatives may occur in either of two distinct forms, hypothetical or categorical."

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