A REVIEW ON JENIFFER, ULEMAN'S BOOK TITLED AN INTRODUCTION TO KANT'S MORAL PHILOSOPHY
1. INTRODUCTION
Immanuel Kant was the paradigmatic philosopher of the European Enlightenment. He eradicated the last traces of the medieval worldview from modern philosophy, joined the key ideas of earlier rationalism and empiricism into a powerful model of the subjective origins of the fundamental principles of both science and morality, and laid the ground for much in the philosophy of the nineteenth and twentieth century's. "Immanuel Kant's moral philosophy is one of the most distinctive achievement of the European enlighten. At its Heart lies what Kant called 'strange thing' the free human will."[1] As we all know the well known saying by Mother Theresa of Kolkata, 21 century lacks no money but peace and love. I can assure you that both peace and love are the products of our moral life. I would like to share some of the points, thoughts and critical evaluation on the book An Introduction to Kant's Moral Philosophy which is written by Jennifer K. Uleman.
MAIN CONCEPT DEALS IN THIS BOOK
This book carries the main concept 'The strange thing' which deals with the view on Kantian free will. Here the author explains the free will according to Kant, Human will understand the moral law it has authored as holding not only for itself but universally. What makes a free will? Question is asked by the author and he writes the definition by Kant, a will is free if it determines itself and is not determined by anything else. The author is not sufficient with this definition because here he raises two challenges. The first challenge is posed by nature and the other is posed by reason. Finally he comes to the conclusion to eradicate his challenges. They are (1) I am not free and my acceptance of the conclusion is not properly a choice. (2) It must be up to me what I chose. Free rational will, value of free rational will are another concepts the author explains. According to the author the value of free rational will is explained in terms of Kantian view that which makes the most sense of the common- sense. He says that Kantian will is complicate because it is at once a faculty that desires, make choice and issues action- guiding rules. In this juncture he explains desire and choice. According to Kant "desire is the capacity to be by means of one's presentation the cause of the objects of these representations." "The author support this view by saying desire is to move toward the realization of something which one has an idea."[2] At the same time he comes with a criticism that Kant didn't speak of what the capacity for desire is like in animals as well as humans. Kant writes representing means of concepts transform a capacity for desire into a capacity for choice. The author also speaks of the structure of practical reason. Practical reason's structure constituted by the kinds of representations and propositions and the kinds of possible relations between them.
The next concept we find in this book is Kant's negative and positive characterizations of freedom. Here the author tries to focus on what is 'free will is not' characterized as negative and 'what is free will is' a characterized as positive by Kant. He also has an overlook to Kant's understanding of nature where he explains that Nature in the most general sense is the existence of things under laws. Author says that Kant mentions both sensible and supersensible nature. In this Kantian view we have to understand that nature is not bounded by this world but the world of nominal. Punishment is the next important fact that I liked much. Here he speaks that Kant keeps the criterion to punish one from the natures law quoting Kant Nature tells us that if the thing is good if they feel good. If the purpose of life were just to achieve happiness, then we would all seek pleasure and gratification and hope that it would lead to happiness. If one performs an action by inclination, then that action, on Kant's view, has no moral worth. Thus, morality necessarily involves a struggle against our emotional inclinations. The problem is that happiness is not totally within our power to achieve; to a large extent, happiness is a matter of luck. Consequently, being happy and being good are two different things. The most basic aim of moral philosophy, and so also of the Groundwork, is, in Kant's view, to "seek out" the foundational principle of metaphysics of morals. This is what the author explains about Kantian view of 'happiness and good.
EVALUATION
The main concept of Kant that express by the author is how Kant unfolds the value of realizing our freedom without reducing his argument to the kind of empirical, psychological morality that Kant reject. Kant's central tenets, Key arguments, and core values are presented in an accessible and engaging way making this book ideal for anyone eager to explore the fundamentals of Kant's moral philosophy. Kantian will, With all its component parts are explained moral law the best summery expression of both his own philosophical work on morality and his readers deepest shared convictions about the good. The author tried to explore the ethics of Immanuel Kant provide the best defense for traditional morality in reason rather than divine command must be commended. Kant was so concerned with developing a rationally-based morality. Uleman consistently states her aims in each chapter clearly organizes discussions well and poses questions especially Kantian concepts like free will, choice, desire and duty. Sometimes she keeps silence on the concepts like freedom, maxims and imperatives, where she just goes with Kantian view. There we find no explanation or an idea by the author to understand it. Uleman explains the concept of the Kantian rational freedom intrinsically saying that a person knows what rational freedom is, until asked to describe it. He can recognize it in others, until asked to point it out. Man recognizes it and knows it because that is what he is, but cannot describe it because he cannot fully describe nor place a worth on himself.
CONCLUSION
Genius can only live in this world quoting Wittgenstein. When I have gone through this book I am quite sure that Jennifer K. Uleman is a genius. She tried her best to introduce Kant's moral philosophy too simple and humble. Though the thoughts and philosophy by Kant are highly inflammable, Uleman made too easy to understand and study. This book mainly deals with the concept of free will in author's term it is strange thing. The Kantian ethic says; never regard another as a means, but always as an end. It is quite applicable to the book we cannot see it as an end to Kant's way of thinking on morality and the categorical imperative. Looking back thought time we look behind and see how differently free will has shifted, and further up the road the same will happen to us. "The argument in this book has been that the free will that wills itself, that loves itself, and that wants therefore to move in the world in ways that honor itself, doing so just because it wants to not because it has to is at the heart of Kant's moral theory this Kant's strange thing."[3]
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