Lecture 7 – Jan 27 - Kant Why is it a good rule [justification] All personal ends depend on rationality to confer value upon them – to make the call whether they’re truly worth pursuing or not. Slave – someone who has been deprived of choice freewill. Can’t chose your own ends who you want to be in life. Free will→ freedom to chose What is a will → part of the brain where decisions are made Do we have freewill according to church (18 th c, no. they believed in pre-destiny ; god’s will. Scientist today propose we don’t have freewill nature controls our actions (through body chemistry. Our choices/actions are determined by instincts, hormones, brain chemicals Why does it matter if we have freewill If we have freewill we are above the animal kingdom we are more than just animals. Freewill makes us humans. What motivates human behaviour Inclinations motivate us. Reason has the potential to govern inclinations Reason/rationality/logic → same meaning Kant’s summum bonum: if we all agree reason has great worth, then we would all agree we need a rule (or set of rules) to protect and promote it.
