Part 1

(Immanuel Kant and His

Concept of Person)
At the conclusion of the session, you
should have been able to:

• Have an overview of the life of Immanuel Kant.

• Analyze his view on the human person.

• Appreciate his view of man’s end.

Immanuel Kant was born in 1724 in the East Prussian city of Königsberg in
northeast Germany, studied classics, physics and philosophy at its
university, and worked there as a tutor and professor for more than forty
years, never travelling more than thirty miles from home.
He is regarded as one of the most influential thinkers of modern Europe
and of the late Age of Enlightenment (rationalism vs. empiricism).
Lived an ordinary life, initially unrecognized, but when given the chance
to be a lecturer (privatdozent) proved to be excellent, witty and with good
humor.
Never married, socialized and was famous for his daily routine with
scheduled precision that exemplified German orderliness.
Kant created a new widespread perspective in philosophy which
influenced philosophy through to the 21st Century. He also published
important works of epistemology, as well as works relevant to religion,
law, and history.
Believed that although our knowledge
begins with experience, it does not
follow that all our knowledge arises out of
experiences.

The issue of a priori (rational) knowledge

vs. a posteriori (empirical) knowledge is
resolved through a distinction between
two kinds of judgments.
Judgment – a thought process whereby a connection
between a subject and a predicate is established as the
latter qualifies the former in some way.
Analytic judgment – the predicate concept is contained in
the subject concept .
• Ex. All bachelors are unmarried. (a priori)

Synthetic judgment - predicate concept is not contained in

its subject concept.
• Ex. All bachelors are happy. (a posteriori)

Synthetic a priori – statements provide new knowledge, but

knowledge that is not derived from experience; the
possibility of experience depends on certain necessary
conditions.
Human Knowledge is limited in its scope. Its
two forms are:
• Knowledge that is limited to the world of experience.
• Knowledge that is limited by the manner in which
our faculties of perception and thinking organize raw
data of experience.

Two types of reality:

• Phenomenal – the world as we experience it; reality
external to us; we know this as it appears to us and is
organized by us.
• Noumenal – things we will never know; thing-in-itself
The human person is subject not to the
external but to the internal condition of
humanity: good will.

The will is considered to be good when it

act so that it conforms itself to what duty
demands.

Not external conformity to duty but true

fidelity to what duty demands.
Deontologism – the ethical view of duty.
Duty – “that which ought to be done.
Morality is within the human personality; what is
morally right or wrong is solely a matter of intent,
motive, and will.
The human person is a self-governing rational
will; the goodness and badness of the action is
depending on the intuition.
Intuition – means the internal motive or intention.
A human person acts morally if and only if
he does whatever he is obliged to do, if he
does things out of a sense of duty or
obligation. (Ex. Government employee)
• Act done in accord with duty vs. act done from a
sense of duty

How can a human person know his duty in a

give situation?
• He must test the universalizability of an action by
means of the Categorical Imperative.
A command or maxim that enjoins a person to do a certain action
without qualification inasmuch as doing such an act is the most
universally accepted thing to do.
Principles that are intrinsically valid.
They are good in and of themselves; they must be obeyed in all
situations and circumstances if our behavior is to observe the
moral law.
It is from the Categorical Imperative that all other moral
obligations are generated, and by which all moral obligations can
be tested.
The three general types of imperatives:
• The Imperative of Skill
• The Imperative of Prudence
• The Imperative of Morality
The Imperative of Skill
• The necessary measures or means a person
must take in view of the end or goal that he
wishes to pursue.
• Conditional or hypothetical
The Imperative of Prudence
• The necessary measures or means a human
person, out of tact or practicality, must take if he
wants to attain happiness, a goal which in Kant’s
view, all human persons seek by natural
inclination.
• Also conditional or hypothetical
The Imperative of Morality
• The imperative intrinsic to the nature of the
action being commanded, independently of any
ulterior end or consequences.
• Unconditional or categorical; a strict command
or imperative.
Two Basis of Acts Marked by Categorical
Imperative:
1. Act as if the maxim of your action were to
become a universal law of nature.
2. Act so as to treat humanity, whether in your
own person, or in that of any other, every case
as an end, never as a means only. (Principle of
Justice)
TYPE: DESCRIPTION OF IMPERATIVE

Imperative of Skill What must I do:

• To be ____________?
• To have ___________?

Imperative of Prudence What must I do be happy:

• As a ____________?
• As having a ___________?

Categorical Imperative What must I have to do:

• As a ____________?
• As having a ___________?
The human person
• an autonomous self-regulating will.
• independent and has a self-contained capacity
to make moral decisions by and for himself.
• His reasons and justifications of his decisions are
his own.
The human person’s duties:

• Perfect Duty – that which a person must observe

irrespective of time, place or circumstances.

• Imperfect Duty – that which a person must

observe only on some occasions.
Every person is capable of doing an
action based on his will and decision.

A person has worth and dignity inasmuch

as they are ends in themselves and are
capable of making their own moral
decisions.

No person should be treated merely as a

means for others’ end.
Apply the three imperatives in the way
the following should act:
1. A business owner
2. A politician
3. A student
4. A media man
5. A movie personality