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Critique Of Determinism In The Light Of Immanuel Kant
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 4]
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CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION AND THE CLARIFICATION OF TERMS
Human beings live in a world that is laden with many possibilities. As a being with the capacity to choose between alternatives, he has been able to surmount the numerous problems he has so far encountered. Not only this, he has been able to develop this world by merely and freely choosing almost the best out of his many alternatives. However, it has also come to the knowledge of this same man that some external forces influence most of his actions. This has led some men to the conclusion that man is, in fact, not free. This is now a big problem in the field of philosophy.
This problem of freedom of the will and determinism has continued to perturb philosophers from the ancient period till date. As a matter of fact, this problem has seen philosophers and some scientists divided into two opposing camps; those who hold tenaciously to the freedom of the will and those who deny the reality of the freedom of the will. The former are known as the libertarians while the latter group is known as determinists.
It is in the midst of this controversy that I have set out to defend the reality of the freedom of the will in the light of Immanuel Kant, a philosopher of great repute, despite the fact that the juice seem to have, ages ago, been pressed out of this free will controversy.
Immanuel Kant lived all his eighty years in the small provincial town of konisberg in East Prussia. He was born in April 22, 1724. His family was among the pietists, a protestant sect somewhat like the Quakers and early Methodists. This tremendously impacted on his philosophical works. Kant authored many philosophical works some of which include Critique of Pure Reason {1781}, Critique of Practical Reason {1788}, Critique Of Judgment {1790}, Metaphysics of Morals{1797} and a host of others. His other woks, which he was unable to complete before his demise on February 12, 1804, were gathered together under the title “opus postunumâ€.
This work is divided into four chapters. Chapter one which I have already started deals with the general introduction and the clarification of terms. Chapter two exposes the thoughts of some philosophers on this problem of freewill and determinism from the ancient period to the contemporary era. In chapter three, we shall look into the thoughts of Immanuel Kant on the freedom of the will. Chapter four is a critical evaluation and conclusion.
This problem of freedom and determinism from every indication is a metaphysical issue. At the same time, it is a moral issue because to deny the freedom of man is to deny responsibility and morality is built on freedom and responsibility. As a result of this, I shall limit my work to the defense of the freedom of man and its relation to morality.
At this juncture, it is pertinent to clarify certain terms for a better comprehension of the topic and the problem we are about to handle.
1.1 FREEDOM
For the man in the street, ‘Freedom’ is the ability to do whatever one desires to do at any point in time. Philosophically, freedom can be seen as the absence of constriction. Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary defines freedom as “the state of being able to do what you want without anything stopping youâ€1. Freedom is the absence of coercion or constraint. Freedom can also signify that capacity or faculty whereby individuals are left to form their lives through their choices. This is called self-determination and is often regarded as positive freedom or freedom from… Freedom, however, has so many meanings.
Generally, the idea of freedom connotes the following; absence of constraint, restraint, impediment, coercion, compulsion or obstacles to the realization of certain willed goal; it connotes also the ability or power to do what a person wills or to avoid what he does not want. Battista Mondin in his book Philosophical Anthropology defines freedom as:
That capacity which man has of choosing to do or not do a thing when all the conditions for action are already present. It is the sovereign control over the situation by which the will holds in its hand the power to make the choice fall in favor of one of various alternative possibilities.2
This is really the sense of freedom I am set to defend in this work. Freedom is another title of man’s excellence and nobility. It distinguishes him from every other created thing. It is this freedom that enables man to swim through the ocean of possibilities in life. This freedom is also at the center of moral practices. We praise or reproach persons for their actions because of our awareness of the freedom in man. This is what makes one a moral being. It is on this ground that Immanuel Kant held tenaciously to the reality of freedom of the human person. He located it in the noumenal world (the sphere of the thing- in- itself).
I shall elaborate more on the views of some philosophers concerning this issue as we move along. Suffice it to say here that freedom is in the nature of man. Without freedom, the moral law is useless. What then is determinism?
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 4]
Page 1 of 4
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