Today's discussion was very interesting. We had the luck of having Dr. Oliver for our entire group discussion so any questions we had, we had the answer! Our whole group seemed to find Kant's theories very interesting, most notably, Kant's idea of categories. His ideology is very complex, but I believe we were able to hammer out the most confusing aspects with Dr. Oliver's help.
Personally, I found this discussion the most interesting because I felt very inspired by Kant's theory. I feel like I grasp his concept and see how it plays out in everyday life.
As you may have deduced, our topic was about Kant. Here are our factual questions:
What is the definition of a priori?
A. Universal and necessary, prior to experience
B. After experience
and
What book by Kant is considered the greatest single book in philosophy?
A. Critique of Reason
B. Critique of Pure Reason
C. Critique of Judgment
D. Critique of Practical Reason
answers: 1 (A) 2 (B)
And our main discussion question (although we had many we addressed!):
Kant says the categories stay the same and we, as humans, all have the same categories. How is this so if our world and perceptions are changing constantly? Do you believe Kant prepared for the world to change? Why or why not? Generally, what are your thoughts?
I think I understand how all the categories remain the same but i dont want to explain it now cause i am about to write about it for the extra credit.
ReplyDeleteThe Devin Sharpe
During the course of our discussion time, Dr. Oliver and our group contemplated and sort of dissected the views of Kant. Overall, as our questions probably infer, we were pretty confused about the logic behind all of his claims. In many ways, I found a lot of Kant's views to make sense...which would make sense, because he focused on reason. I don't think Kant intended on our societies and world to change so radically as it has in comparison with the world when he speculated it. I do for the most part agree that we are all born with a set of categories. Whether we decide to use the categories to their full potential is what ultimately determines how much we know about them. Kant mentions that every person has rational will, which allows them to resist inclinations and regulate our behavior according to our own law which is the moral law. According to Kant this is what makes people free. If a person so chooses to follow our natural instincts/inclinations, that is when he/she is unfree.
ReplyDeleteI found this to be kind of comical, as we always think of freedom as doing whatever the s we want, without strict moral laws or codes of conduct. To Kant, freedom was choosing to bring structure/rules and morality into your life. I slightly understand, but not entirely. I find it interesting that he made this assumption.
Another question/issue that I had refers to how anyone knows all of the categories that human beings posses. Kant created a map/diagram displaying the categories which all humans contained. This sort of reminded me of the Mystics, and how they could be so positive that they were the ones chosen. Just like this, where no one can say for certain what people are capable of.
Yeah... I think it is safe to say that Kant had a very complex view of the world, filled with oodles of reason and logic, which I am not particularly a fan of, for it confuses me.