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Kant's moral theory; free will and determinism.

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2. What does Kant struggle with when he attempts to provide an ethical theory? How does he frame the struggle? How does he attempt to make compatible free will and determinism?

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Solution Summary

This solution describes Immanuel Kant's motivation and theory in developing his theory of morality, with particular reference to the categorical imperative and universal maxim, as well as describing how he reconciles the antinomy of free will and determinism.

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Problem: What does Kant struggle with when he attempts to provide an ethical theory? How does he frame the struggle? How does he attempt to make compatible free will and determinism?

Solution:

Immanuel Kant's primary struggle in attempting to provide an ethical theory is that he is working in what is called the Age of Reason, 18th-century Europe. Scientific and technical progress has exploded, and scientists and philosophers have universally accepted a view of the universe , called Newtonian mechanics. Isaac Newton had described the laws of nature, including gravity and motion, the laws of forces, etc., all within a matrix of causality. The rational and scientific point of view was that everything, including human beings, operated within the laws of nature. The universe was understood to operate like big machine, or like a clock, predictably and without outside interference. This is why this view of the universe is called Newtonian mechanics, because it is mechanical.

Even those who still believed that God or some kind of supreme being, created the universe, no longer believed that God interfered in the workings of the universe. They were called Deists. The church with its religious authority still ...

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