When comparing the works and philosophy of Immanuel Kant with that of Friedrich Nietzsche, it is apparent that they had very different views on the ideals of God, moral absolutism and any form of a priori knowledge. Over the course of this essay, a comparison of the similarities and disparities between Kant and Nietzsche’s critical works will help us to find the commonalities in their views of metaphysics as well as some interesting differences. It will also be shown how Nietzsche took the Kant’s ideas on dogmatic metaphysics and applied them to the practical world. Nietzsche is a polarizing figure, as much in modern day society as he was in his own time. His radical argument for the way the world should be viewed is of the upmost importance in the philosophical arguments of philosophers and theologians alike. …show more content…
Immanuel Kant expanded from the previous work of David Hume in the ideas of constructivism, in that the mind is a repository that stores and sorts ideas by categories. Kant’s expansion involved the mind being an active part of the perception of the raw data that was being sensually experienced. He counted the mind as living part of the sensual experience, instead of something resembling a file system. (Baird 520) Friedrich Nietzsche held similar ideas on the concept of constructivism, but felt that reality was a construct of the individual’s perspective and not based in any absolute perspective. Nietzsche’s lack of faith in the idea of absolutism is key to his entire genre of philosophy and will continue to be prevalent in this comparison to Kant. (Baird
Throughout his career, Nietzsche’s philosophy becomes known for it’s challenging of Christianity’s fundamental principles and traditional morality and ethics. His notions followed themes regarding the edification or enhancement of individual and cultural health through the means of respecting and valuing the powers of will, creativity, life and nature in the direct reality of the world we live in. Nietzsche’s emphasis of an embodiment with the present, direct world comes in direct opposition to religious ideas concerning life after death or value beyond the knowable, tangible world we are situated within—exemplifying him as secular philosopher concerned with the human experience. Nietzsche’s efforts and approaches to human experience centralize around the question: how is it that one should live? Through this framework, academically, Nietzsche is often referred to as one of the first original existentialist thinkers.
Nietzsche's madman allegory represents the current moral situation of society during his time--a growing belief that God does not exist, a movement away from religious values. Nietzsche does not mean literally that God has been murdered, but because mankind created God, we also have the ability to kill God. In Nietzsche’s point of view, mankind created God by also creating a belief in God. By saying that mankind ‘murdered’ God, Nietzsche is proposing that we no longer believe in Him. With the grounding that religion provided in the past, Nietzsche fears that mankind will be left without purpose and virtues to lead them to do the correct thing. The ‘light,’ in Nietzsche’s allegory is belief in God; for this paper, light is a focus because of the implications that follow when there is none. With no light, everything previously known about moral beliefs and the world is overturned. Nietzsche proposes that instead of God guiding people (because people no longer believe in Him), people can follow their own virtues, such as courage, faith in oneself, and patience for the future.
Immanuel Kant is widely-regarded as one of the greatest thinkers and philosophers of all time, with his teachings having more influence on other contemporary thinkers than any other philosopher of the 18th century. Fighting against the governmental and monarchical constraints of the time, Kant began his work by maintaining that all humans are free beings, who out to think autonomously, free from the dictates of external authority (SEP, 2011, pp.1). Kant
The truth behind metaphysics is a consistent stream of changing ideas which involves thoughts on what existence really is. Kant, unlike many metaphysicians tries to not include an outside aspect that is intrinsically linked to existence, leading to patterns of this form of thinking that continues even to contemporary philosophers. As a transcendental idealist, he molds two schools of thought into one, expanding the capability of what metaphysics is able to ponder, while also eliminating nonscientific approaches to these questions, because those explanations are always lacking empirical substance. On the surface of Kantian metaphysics, it seems as though all hope is lost in respect to the evaluation of the impact metaphysics has on objective thought. However, this is not the case, by using synthetic a priori knowledge one will be able to jettison oneself from the spectacles
Kant and Mill both articulate thoughts that praise the use of reason as the ultimate good, that which leads to enlightenment (in Kant’s terms) and a general understanding and certainty, as Mill would put it. The two political philosophers, while both striving to reach the same goal, ultimately achieve their goals in a different sense, and even demonstrate a slight discrepancy in what they ultimately mean to attain. Mill’s path toward certainty and understanding is dependent on dissenting opinion, and is asymptotic to truth; one never achieves the complete enlightenment that Kant describes so vividly as the individual’s end on a linear path of reason.
In 1724, in the Prussian city of Konigsberg Immanuel Kant was born and spent most of his life at the university. Kant was recognized as a noble philosopher and scientist specializing in many areas. Kant wrote several difficult to read books, but included influential context regarding to practical morality, science, history, politics, and metaphysics. Along with many scholars and philosopher of Kant’s era the published works about nature of reality, free will. Although, the books were commended at the time, they are currently influential in terms of ethics. Kant’s most remarkable books are Groundwork in the Metaphysics of Morals (1785), Critique of Practical Reason (1788), and Metaphysics of Morals (1798) contributing to Kant’s foundation of
In the critique of pure reason, Kant states, “All alternations occur in accordance with the law of the connection of cause and effect.”1 This statement is interpreted in two different ways: weak readings and strong readings. The weak readings basically suggest that Kant's statement only refer to “All events have a cause”; however, the strong readings suggest that “the Second Analogy is committed not just to causes, but to causal laws as well.”2 To understand the difference between the readings, it is helpful to notice Kant's distinction between empirical laws of nature and universal transcendental principles. Empirical laws have an empirical element that universal transcendental principles cannot imply. On the other hand, empirical experiences require necessity to become a law, accordingly, “the transcendental laws “ground” the empirical laws by supplying them with their necessity.”3In this paper, according to this distinction, I first, argue that the second analogy supports the weak reading, second, show how in Prolegomena he uses the concept of causation in a way that is compatible to the strong reading, and third, investigate whether this incongruity is solvable.
Kant is well known for his work in the philosophy of ethics and metaphysics; also, he made an important astronomical discovery on the nature of Earth's rotation. Kant exceeded both values of his time, Rationalism and Empiricism. We believe his work did a
Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Nietzsche are two widely acclaimed philosophers due to the groundwork they made towards the philosophical principles of morality. However, even though they both have openly discussed their views, they have ended up contradicting each other. Kant implied that morality is not learned, but rather predestined, whereas Nietzsche alluded to a experience based morality, or one that is learned through actions and memories. Although these two men have accepted views of morality, the ideas of Nietzsche seem more applicable in relation to the present day; the world is constantly changing. There are two separate scenarios in which the issues of 'thou shalt not lie ' and 'thou shalt not steal, ' are morally assessed. The end results are supportive towards Nietzsche 's principles and detrimental towards Kant 's ideas. Overall, the moral concepts of Nietzsche will prevail as a result, illustrating the more probable use of his ideology.
Friedrich Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher and held in regard amongst the greatest philosophers of the early part century. He sharpened his philosophical skills through reading the works of the earlier philosophers of the 18th century such as Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, Arthur Schopenhauer and African Spir; however, their works and beliefs were opposite to his own. His primary mentor was Author Schopenhauer, whose belief was that reality was built on the foundation of experience. Such as it is, one of his essays, Schopenhauer als Erzieher, published in 1874, was dedicated to Schopenhauer (Mencken, 2008). In the past two centuries, his work has had authority and influence in both
Although the problem of the relationship between Nietzsche and metaphysics might seem to be a settled issue, this is in fact a quite complicated and fascinating problematic. The difficulty with this subject lies in the often unacknowledged ambiguity that the term ‘metaphysics’ exhibits in Nietzsche's writing, as this word assumes different nuances and connotations in different contexts. Therefore, if we can get past the usual rhetoric on the topic, we come to realize that Nietzsche addresses the topic of metaphysics in at least two distinct ways.
5. Discuss Nietzsche’s theory of “will to power” and “the innocence of becoming”. Does the hypothesis of the will to power successfully “debunk” traditional religion, morality, and philosophical claims to provide the “disinterested” or “objective” truth?
He persuasively unveils imperatives both universal and hypothetical, the elements of unconventional practical reason, and examples of extreme controversy that force people to consider situations from a previously unconsidered moral perspective; however, Kant’s initial moral work is not without its critique: ranging from
Due to the apparent focus both authors place on religion and how it affects the manner in which people think and their subsequent actions, the comparison of how faith is critiqued by both Marx and Nietzsche may allow one to secern their respective characterization of the default state of mind of humans and why they should change it. Nietzsche’s orotund and detailed rhetoric on religion is seen as the main focus of his argument:
This week’s paper we were to research and identify three prevailing philosophical perspectives at work during the 20th Century. To begin I will research the history of a few new tendencies in contemporary philosophy. Then I will discuss the Tom Rockmore interpretation of such tendencies. Tom Rockmore is Professor of Philosophy and a McAnulty College Distinguished Professor, Dr. Rockmore's current research interests encompass all of modern philosophy, with special emphasis on selected problems as well as figures in German idealism (Kant, Fichte, Hegel, Marx) and recent continental philosophy (Heidegger, Habermas, Lukacs). He is continuing to explore the epistemology of German idealism as well as the relation between philosophy and