Moral Self-Knowledge in Kantian Ethics Essay Example for Free

Moral Self-Knowledge in Kantian Ethics Essay In the article titled, Moral Self-knowledge in Kantian Ethics, Emer O’Hagan discusses Kant’s views and ideas concerning self-knowledge and the role it plays in duty and virtuous action. O’Hagan first introduces a key feature of Kant’s ethical theory which is its recognition of the psychological complexity of human beings. O’Hagan uses this recognition of psychological complexity by Kant to dive into Kant’s feeling on self-knowledge. Once a basic understanding of Kant’s attitude towards self-knowledge has been established, O’Hagan then uses Kant’s ethical theory to show how self-knowledge can be used as a means to help determine the goodness of an action. The arguments presented by O’Hagan are logical and clearly supported and verified through the presented evidence. Kant is shown to have recognized the psychological complexity of the human being in recognizing that, â€Å"judgments concerning the rightness of actions are vulnerable to corruption from self-interested inclination† (O’Hagan 525-537). Kant is saying that that even though an action may start out as from duty, our internal feelings as human beings can create a beneficial end as a means for the action, thus rendering it not from duty. Kant also recognizes that our own judgments about us may not be accurate. Moral self-development is a practice to develop accuracy for our self-judgments and takes into consideration one’s motives for action. O’Hagan tells us that this moral practice requires moral self-knowledge which is a form of self-awareness disciplined by respect for autonomy, the theoretical foundation of Kantian ethics. According to Kant, the first command of the duties to oneself as a moral being is self-knowledge. This is the ability to know yourself in terms of whether your heart is for good or evil and whether your actions are pure or impure. Kant describes duties of virtue to be wide duties, in that there is not a clear standard for how one should go about performing action for an end that is also a duty. O’Hagan tells us that Kant’s duty of moral self-knowledge is the duty to know one’s own heart. Kant tells us that moral self-knowledge is quite difficult because it involves abstracting, or taking a non-biased analysis of one’s self. Because we are bound to our own feelings and inclinations, we cannot completely separate ourselves from our own bias. The power of self-knowledge is the power to see things in objectivity instead of subjectivity. The final step of the argument is relating self-knowledge to determining the goodness of an action. O’Hagan tells us that developing self-knowledge will develop one’s self-understanding and will develop guards against self-deception. Using these skills to truly understand one’s heart allows for one to know one’s motives, and thus practical stance in action. According to Kant, the goodness of an action is determined by one’s motives, so the goodness of one’s action can now be evaluated. O’Hagan clearly demonstrates the importance of self-knowledge in Kant’s theory of ethics and validates its importance by describing application for use of the practice of self-knowledge (O’Hagan 525-537).

Humanities - The Heart of Liberal Education Essay -- Education Philoso

I justify the humanities by sketching four views of knowledge in which the idea of an academy or an integration of disciplines might be understood. I assume that every system of higher education inevitably appeals to concepts of knowledge. Such concepts cannot be isolated from political and civic dimensions of life as well as from personal cultivation and character. Nonetheless, older views based on these aspects are open to serious criticism. The four views considered are Aristotelian-Thomistic, Cartesian-positivist, Kantian, and "traditionalist" (in a liberal and hermeneutic sense). The paper describes key elements in each of these views and notes several objections, with a marked preference for Kantian and "traditionalist" views. Kant provides for rehabilitation of the humanities, especially ethics and literature (the moral and aesthetic), within a framework in which modern science displaces ancient teleological nature. "Tradition" is justified on practical grounds--by the need to appropriate for oneself the knowledge and experience of past generations (without which human life loses continuity and meaning). Further, the humanities save the great texts from oblivion to which "progress" would otherwise consign them. The humanities counteract the tendency of science to undermine the conditions of its own possibility, as well as the discipline, knowledge, and virtue required for its own origin. Two questions are urgently posed to the modern academy: what is the justification for congregating all the disciplines of modern knowledge under one roof as if they belonged integrally together—if, that is, there is one? For perhaps it is merely a convenience. And secondly, what is the justification—if there is any—for insisting upon th... ...ndered unnecessary by its existence. Technology makes perpetual adolescents of us, because of the ease with which it puts great power in our hands; its power diminishes our desire (and thus our capacity) for responsibility. In the face of this fact of modern life, the traditionalist view of education seeks to reverse this effect, without denying the legitimacy of science. It cultivates liberal virtues by keeping the classics and all the great texts alive, including the classics of science itself (physical and human), abandoned by later science. Traditional stances like those of (1), (2), and (3), may be suspicious of it because it declines the attempt to found education upon the dogma of a metaphysics or an epistemology. But it may well be the most practical way pedagogically that the aims and content of those approaches can be sustained within a modern environment.

Old Times and New in “Goodbye, Lenin!”

Old Times and New in Wolfgang Becker’s Goodbye, Lenin! There are many themes in Goodbye, Lenin! The most obvious is the contrast between the old times and the new and the question of nostalgia or embracing the past. Two scenes which show this theme includes the scene when the main character’s mother, Christiane, asks Alex (the main character) for some Spreewald gherkins. The second is when Christiane ventures outside and sees all the changes that have affect East Germany since the collapse of the Berlin Wall.The story unfolds in the year following the collapse of the Berlin Wall in November of 1989. Alexander Kerner constructs the GDR in one room of his family’s apartment in East Berlin for his mother who has recently woken up from a coma. His mother, Christiane Kerner, has experienced nothing of the tumultuous events of 1989-1990. When she regains consciousness the doctor tells Alex that she will not survive another heart attack and to keep her excitement levels at a low.Alex decides to keep the events of the last year a secret and thus keeps the old GDR alive in their apartment. Alex uses systematic disinformation to manipulate his mother’s beliefs. One day, Christiane asks Alex for some Spreewald gherkins, her favourite. Unfortunately, the shops have got rid of their East German products. As he walks around the supermarket all Alex sees are jars of pickles from Holland. These foods were produced and sold in the old East Germany where often it was impossible to produce enough to meet demand.The director, Wolfgang Becker, juxtaposes shots which compares both systems of government (the old and the new). The supermarket shelves have been ‘invaded’ by new brands from Holland and the rest of the world. The differences between the two halves of the city are highlighted by a montage sequence where we see in bland colours the empty shelves of old East Berlin supermarkets. A single, defrosting, bloody chicken lies at the bottom of a huge freezer – this shot is juxtaposed with the vibrant colours of the brightly packaged goods on the shelves of shops in the new Berlin.These images in this scene shows the contrast and lacking that both the old and the new both have. The second scene which portrays the theme of old and new is when Christiane ventures outside of the apartment into Berlin. For Christiane, venturing out into the ‘real world’ means that she must confront this new world around her. For Alex, it means confronting the lies that he has been telling to build up the imaginary world in the apartment. Christiane has to face the changes that have been made in the past years and must see the new.She gazes upon the sights for the first time – West German’s moving into the apartment building, the new western vehicles, and of course the statue of Lenin. Good Bye, Lenin! is a thematically rich film, delving into politics, family dynamics, and, most especially, the contrast be tween the old and the new. The fall of the Berlin Wall was a tumultuous event for East Germany, triggering rapid changes in every aspect of the lives of the people who lived there.Overnight, the economy would be transformed from a socialist system to a capitalist one, Western consumer goods and ideas would come flooding in, and people could pass freely into the Western sector of the city. In these scenes we see the influence of the new on the old. We see Alex trying to keep his mother in the old East Germany by creating a world in their apartment with everything from the old GDR. Christiane eventually ventures outside and sees the new Germany and comes out of this experience with new strength and understanding.

Hiku Japanese word of the day - hiku

Word of the Day: hiku Pronunciation: Click here to listen to the audio file. Meaning: to pull; to draw; to drag; to attract; to lead; to quote; to look up; to subtract Japanese characters: Ã¥ ¼â€¢Ã£   (㠁 ²Ã£  ) Example: Sono kotoba o jisho de hiite miyou.㠁 Ã£  ®Ã¨ ¨â‚¬Ã¨â€˜â€°Ã£â€šâ€™Ã¨ ¾Å¾Ã¦â€º ¸Ã£  §Ã¥ ¼â€¢Ã£ â€žÃ£  ¦Ã£  ¿Ã£â€šË†Ã£ â€ Ã£â‚¬â€š Translation: Lets look up the word in the dictionary. More Words of the Day: Previous wordNext wordWord of the Day by email