Immanuel Kant
Kant, Immanuel (1724-1804) Born on April 22, 1724, Kant never traveled more than 40 miles from Konigsberg, Prussia. He didn’t need to; students from all over Europe came to him. His nativistic approach combined Leibnitz rationalism with Hume’s skepticism. Kant was a student at the University of Konigsberg, and then taught there until he was 73 years old. He resigned, not because he was too old, but because he would not change. Kant was asked not include his views on religion in his class lectures; he refused. His refusal may have been a matter of principle, but Kant resisted change of any kind. So punctual was he on his daily walk that people set their watches to him. Kant had followed the work of Leibnitz, but became known for his reaction against Hume. Hume held that causation is the habit of the mind; it does not come from experience. Kant countered that causation must come from somewhere, and suggested the mind has a priori categories of thought. While Hume maintained that nothing can be known entirely, Kant held that some things are certain. Kant believed these categories to be innate and universal. He believed that people come prepackaged with free will. We have an innate understanding of right and wrong. We know what we should do, but we choose whether or not we follow that rule. When in doubt about how to act, Kant recommends that we act as if our action was an example of a universal truth. Moral judgment for Kant is a categorical imperative.
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