I have found that Kenneth has the most strong-willed moral compass of all the characters on the show, as he is almost always brought into a situation that makes him question his beliefs. If he should choose to stay true to his moral compass, life is easy for him, but should he take the "path less traveled," if you will, something almost always goes awry and Kenneth usually suffers some sort of breakdown.
That being said, Kenneth is also a very child-like and naive person, always trusting and thinking the absolute best of humanity, even when working with occasionally malignant and untrustworthy co-workers. In one specific episode, we get to see the world through Kenneth's eyes:
As evidenced in the video, Kenneth is said to get the most enjoyment out of simple pleasures as opposed to extravagant vacation homes or just being rich and successful in general (could that be cynic in nature? I think quite possibly!).
When investigating his personal philosophy, we should take into account his extreme level of faith in Christianity and his upbringing as a poor boy in Stone Mountain, Georgia. For example, Kenneth firmly believes that lying in any situation is always immoral:
Remind you of anyone? Although this situation is not quite as extreme as a killer coming and asking for your children, the thought of lying always being a bad idea is very Kantian in nature and a vital part of Kenneth's personality.
As I cannot find a video of Kenneth in his apartment on YouTube or Hulu, I will just explain his living conditions for you: he lives in a very cheap apartment, to say the least. More than likely it is in a dangerous neighborhood in the inner city, but he is incredibly happy just to live in New York. He works what we can only assume is a minimum wage job and almost always only wears his page uniform. And yet he is so pleased with his simple life and only needing the bare minimum to get by. His pride in this reminds me of Diogenes, the famous cynic, if just a bit more privileged.
For the most part, though, Kenneth is just a true-to-his-heart southern boy who loves his family, his friends, and his life. He operates via the teachings of the Christian Church (what is right and what is wrong; be humble and be of service to others) in which some concepts have stemmed from or influenced the writings of Diogenes and Kant.
Kenneth, in my eyes, is a good person who means well and has a focused moral center (which can either complicate things or sort issues out in the show) which makes him commendable, yet naive in some respects. To me, he is a good Christian and a humble friend and his personal philosophy is both one to be admired and parodied.
To be honest, I don't know how much I actually did to get my point across, but I hope you found it somewhere in the midst of excerpts from the show and observations made by myself. Now, I leave this post with a humorous excerpt in which Tracy and Jenna are suffering from "Ken-mares" in which Kenneth haunts the deepest, darkest reaches of their subconscious. Enjoy!
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