Welcome to this project's development blog! An overview of the Conscious Permanence project. I'm Cory. About me. Questions or comments? Email me at ...
Kant introduces the concept of duty. Acting morally is not the same as having a good will. There may be other reasons for acting morally. When you act morally though you have inclinations to do otherwise, that action is due to the good will. Duty is moral action overcoming resistance, demonstrating the presence of good will. Kant claims there are a few easy cases. First, actions that are contrary…
In four paragraphs, Kant shows the function of reason is the cultivation of good will. The argument is based on function as goes like this: everything we have is for a purpose and is best suited for that purpose; reason doesn't achieve happiness or contentment, a function much better handled by instincts or the impulsive drive (think dopamine fixes); reason's purpose is not for happiness but…
Good will is the quality that seems both to govern moral action and to constitute a worthiness to be happy. This quality is similar to the Stoic virtue of wisdom, because it was necessary to live well and was superior to all other virtues. It's my opinion that a good will is synonymous with a neural architecture that acts morally (noting that what acting morally is still requires a careful…
Two small points to finish the book's preface. First, in (xii), Kant says theoretical reason and practical reason are from the same root of pure reason and should unify in a common principle. My use of distributed authorship (theoretical reason) to show the mechanism of human agency (that manifests practical reason) isn't mixing domains that should be kept separate. Second, Kant makes a point I…
In (viii), Kant states that moral action must be done "for the sake of the moral law". But how would anyone know what their true motivation is? Kant says that if it isn't truly for the sake of moral law, transgressions will occur. This fact makes sense—if your motivation isn't "pure" then there will be cases where you err. If there are no cases where you transgress, then your motivation is pure. A…
It's necessary to work out a pure moral philosophy that lacks any empirical contributions. It must be pure reason, universal in scope, applicable without conditions. Kant is implying there exists an absolute principle of duty, which I assume is coming later. We assume a law must have absolute (i.e., unconditional) necessity to be valid morally, to have force as a moral duty. Moral principles must…
For completeness, I'm wrapping up a thought. I think it's surprising Kant viewed the rational principles of ethics such they must support both the moral system (of rules, from reason and not from experience) and why people fail to be moral. I would assume philosophers stop after defining the moral system. If people don't follow the system, their anomalous behavior is their problem, not the…
More to discuss in the third paragraph of the Preface. Kant says the principles for the physical world are in accordance with which everything happens, and the principles for ethics are in accordance with which everything ought to happen. Then he says that take into account the conditions where what ought to happen "very often" doesn't happen. Two things jump at me. First, "in accordance" is doing…
From before, there are three parts of philosophy: logic, physics, and ethics. Logic is made of only fundamental principles that apply universally. It's important that Kant believes in the existence of these universal principles. Kant firmly believes there is a rational structure to everything. He thinks we can understand the world through reason. (Maybe that's what he did in the Critique of Pure…
Something jumps out at me already and I'm only two paragraphs in my deep analysis. The first paragraph points out that a three-fold division of philosophy into logic, physics, and ethics is appropriate, but Kant thinks a principle is needed to ground these three parts and ensure completeness (i.e., showing a fourth part isn't missing). The second paragraph though is surprising and I'm thinking…