A different kind of "blog," consisting of selections from my scribblings over many years. The date of each post is the date I originally wrote that piece. So, the top post is usually not the latest post, because I continually add writings from different years to the blog. If you have visited here before, you are likely to find new posts anywhere on the page. I'll continue to add "new" posts as my time allows.
28 December 1993
Kant and Socialism
Acting purely as the sentient (finite, mortal) being, there are no right or wrong actions, only good or bad ones. Our immortality is not an empirical reality. Whatever we do, we do as beings whose every action is merely an empirical phenomenon. Our actions are all of this world. Therefore, the only rightness or wrongness they can have is within the context of empirical phenomena -- the Manifold. The individual being, mortal and finite, cannot be the basis of right and wrong -- there is no private morality. Acting as a human being, one acts within the larger context of society (as opposed acting as a mere sentient being). There is a sense in which a person can say: "Because I am a finite and mortal being, my actions must make sense to me, because this is the only life I have." But this contention reflects back on itself and becomes: Because I am a finite being, and this is the only life I have, the only meaning it can have has to be outside itself." If then happiness is good, and creating happiness is right, then it cannot be just my happiness that we are talking about. And when what is right, I am doing what is right for me to do as a social being.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment