Aristotle is thought of to be one of the greatest philosophers of all time. His works helped shape centuries of philosophy. Many of his theories have provided direction. Aristotle is known for using his sciences to explain things; there are three theoretical sciences in which his studies are oriented. Those three are theoretical, practical, and productive. “The principles of division are straightforward: theoretical science seeks knowledge for its own sake; practical science concerns conduct and goodness in action, both individual and societal; and productive science aims at the creation of beautiful or useful objects” (Hursthouse & Pettigrove, 2003).
There are certain ways in which we acquire virtue. Aristotle states that we acquire virtue
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First off, who is Immanuel Kant? Kant is a philosopher who “synthesized early modern rationalism and empiricism, set the terms for much of nineteenth and twentieth century philosophy, and continues to exercise a significant influence today in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, aesthetics and other fields” (Rohlf, 2010). Kant had different thinking than Aristotle when it came to virtues. “The appeal of Kantian morality is that it directly links morality to a dignified conception of man as a rationally free agent” (Lear, 1988, p 153). Kant believes that you are ultimately your own person and that you should make decisions on your own without having to do what others do. Kant believes that the highest good is possible when you believe in immortality of the soul and the existence of God. To Kant, he believes it is better if you help people in need not those that are poor for the pure basis that it is the right thing to do and not just because it is how people believe that you should act and do. The highest good, according to Kant, is a duty and it is something that people need to do in order to achieve the good. On the other hand, Aristotle believes that if you want to achieve the highest good, you can achieve that on your own; it is not something that you need to …show more content…
“The duty to promote the highest good is not a particular duty at all, but the sum of all our duties derived from the moral law” (Rohlf, 2010). We have a choice to want to conceive the highest good; we must want to achieve it. We must truly want to achieve that highest good. Both Kant and Aristotle would say that each of their thinking’s is flawed. Aristotle’s ethics as a system of morality is not recognized by Kant. “Morality, for Kant, had to be self-legislating or autonomous: it must be what a purely rational will would legislate for itself” (Lear, 1988, p 155). Kant’s thinking about morality is more personal than it is for Aristotle. Aristotle’s is personal because it is for yourself, your
Immanuel Kant is said by many to be one of the most influential “thinkers” in the history of Western philosophy (McCormick, n.d.), this being said, most of his theories continue to be taught and are highly respected by society. Kant was a firm believer that the morality of any action can be assessed by the motivation behind it (McCormick, n.d.). In other words, if an action is good but the intention behind the action is not good, the action itself would be considered immoral. Those who follow the utilitarian view would disagree, arguing that an action which benefits the most number of people would be considered moral regardless of the intentions behind it. Kant argues that the intention behind an action matters more than the number of people benefited. This theory of morality falls hand in hand with Kant 's concept of good will, and through examples I hope to explain to readers, in a simple way, what Kant was trying to convey.
Another topic that Kant contributed to is morality. According to Kant, moral laws cannot be derived from human nature. To put it in other terms, it is not human nature that should be used as a model to how we should behave morally. Kant believed that humans do not always make the right moral decisions because human nature can be flawed at times, often times choosing an animalistic desire over doing something that is morally permissible. In addition, Kant believed that the outcome of human nature is not the central issue when it comes to knowing what is right or what is wrong. Instead, Kant believes that it each of the individual actions that should be analyzed to see if it is morally wrong or if it is morally right. Kant’s point of view about morality is different from previous philosophers, because most of them looked to human nature in order to find the morally right things to do.
Aristotle and Kant's views were extremely different. Aristotle believed that it was a moral action and Kant believed it wasn't. These two views are so different because the bases of each theory are very
The philosophers Aristotle and Immanuel Kant express the sources of virtuous and dutiful actions in a similar, yet different way. Both philosophers agree that an action has moral worth, when it is preformed for its own sake. However, the difference contains a more significant meaning. Aristotle believes that pleasure can be included when preforming an action; while Kant believes that a duty is preforming the right action without the need of inclinations.
Aristotle believes that there are two kinds of virtue, one being intellectual and the other being moral virtue. He states that Intellectual virtue comes from being taught meaning we’re not born with it. Moral virtue on the other hand we develop as we grow and gain an understanding of life. “The stone which by nature moves downwards cannot be habituated to move upwards, not even if one tries to train it by throwing it up ten thousand times” (N.E. II.1) Right there he is talking about how if you are designed to do one thing, it is impossible to do the opposite no matter how hard you force it. He talks about how we gain our virtues by practicing them and using them on a regular basis. That is how we learn
experience” (GGM, Pg. 5, 38-39): This means we have use reason to make our choices rather than looking to our experience or a person who we consider to have reason as with Aristotle. This leads to Kant to explain when an action has moral worth. Specifically, “an action has moral worth when it proceeds from duty, not inclination, that is, pleasure and what we feel like doing” (GMM, Pg. 13-16). He establishes three propositions: “the worth of an action lies in the principle of willing, the outcome or consequence are secondary consequences, and finally, an action must proceed out of respect for the moral law” (GMM, Pg. 13-16). This may very well go against Aristotle’s argument of happiness. When Kant says that “most things are good, but not without qualification or limitation” (GMM,
Since the beginning, Plato was the first person that believe that slavery was a wrong thing to do because his theory was that if someone hurts means they are hurt. Aristotle was a person who influenced the founding father the slavery was wrong because he was a student of plato since the the beginning of his theory. Also, the founding father used Plato idea to make a new government because the world was going nuts.In the year of 380 bce Plato idea was made.
Both Kant and Aristotle put forth interesting arguments on not only what the good life is, but also how we as humans know what it means to be good and thus choose actions that would lead to us living the good life. Kant and Aristotle seem to agree that in order to live the good life, one must actually do good things. For them, living the good life is more than just knowing what it means to be good. They also agree on what things should be considered good, such as the virtue of honesty. However, these two philosophers disagree on how humans learn to do these said good things.
The main point of Kant’s idea is that the morality correctness of an act can only be judged by the purpose of it. Particularly, an act can be considered as morally right is only because of its good intention. Different from utilitarianism, which pays more attention to the result, Kant’s concentrate more on the reason behind the act. The second important component of Kantian ethics is the categorical imperative, which is the universal rule that everyone should obey. Under no circumstances is such an act moral, if participant does not follow such rule.
Aristotle was one of the most important western philosophers. He was a student of Plato and the teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. I found that his biggest impacts on modern society were in the subject areas of ethics, and zoology.
Immanuel Kant became one of the most iconic, and potentially crucial philosopher since Aristotle himself. Like Aristotle and Aquinas, Kant also believed God exists and that he could have an impact on our lives if we let/wanted him to. But ethics mainly evolved around humans, more than God. Kant believed that ethics were acting out of a sense of duty. A good act could not happen unless the good act came from the person’s duty. Kant viewed normal things that today we find as good, like happiness, as bad because he saw the total view rather just what
Immanuel Kant and Aristotle are two of the most prominent philosophers on ethics and morals. Each has their own idea about human life and what the highest good is. It has even been said that in his Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals Kant disproves Aristotle’s view. In order to prove that Kant successfully disproves Aristotle’s theory, we must first understand both theories. After a successful understanding has been acquired only then can we prove that Kant’s completely disproves Aristotle’s theory.
Kantian ethics emphasizes on two conditions for an action to be morally good. The first, that an action only has moral worth if it is done for the sake of duty. The second is that an action is considered right if its maxim can be willed as a universal law. Kantian ethics then is working on the basis of duty and universality. In failing to recognize the multiple aspects of morality, Kantian ethics shows inadequacy as a moral theory. (Hinman, 2008)
Immanuel Kant is one of the most influential personalities in the philosophical world. Kant was able to leave a landmark through his various philosophical works that have raised controversy primarily based on how they articulate social issues. Kant's social theories especially the ethical and moral theories have been major points of discussion amongst the scholars in the field of art (notably sociology and psychology). The scholars have been expressing divergent views and deduction on analysis of Kant's theories with some agreeing with the philosopher while others were expressing their contestation of the theories. However, it is inarguable that the Moral theory
truths, and forms. He had no room in his views for imagination and what he saw