Kant and Freunds

The Kant and Morality lecture took me back to year 12 Philosophy and Ethics, and the confusion which lead me to wasting my time making up stupid Kant puns. ‘I can categorically say that I Kant do this Sir’ didn’t go down at all well with the pony- tailed Mr Tatum-Smith, so I’ve decided to leave the ‘short-sighted foolishness’ out of this blog post as well.

Kant is known for being the last influential philosopher of modern Europe in the series of the theory of knowledge during the enlightenment where he followed the likes of John Locke as a thinker, and David Hume as a man who likes to criticise things all the time.
Kant’s ideas had a big impact on philosophy in Germany during his lifetime, where he moved philosophy beyond the debate between the rationalists and empiricists.


According to Kant the results aren’t important, it is the way they are reached which shape our morality. So as long as things are done properly, you can be confident that your soul will remain intact. So Kant would feel totally comfortable of standing with me in the Sir Bobby Robson Stand at Portman Road as we watch Ipswich play beautiful football, and out-pass the opposition on the way to a 3-0 home defeat.

Kant’s categorical imperative was also mentioned, which is an interesting tool used to find the greater good. It denotes an absolute unconditional requirement that can stamps its own authority in any circumstance, and is an end in itself. This really counters the idea of Utilitarianism which we have also looked at, because it is irrelevant for people only trying to find the good for themselves. And there we have it…John Terry is a Kant.