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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
A Mind Of One's Own: Hegel On Becoming Rational, Lucas Johnston
A Mind Of One's Own: Hegel On Becoming Rational, Lucas Johnston
Theses and Dissertations
The `Self-Consciousness' chapter of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit has been interpreted in a variety of ways. Traditional readings, however, often do not emphasize Hegel's proclamation that the servile consciousness ``acquires a mind of its own'' and becomes ``thinking consciousness'' in the transition from `Self-Consciousness' A to B. Here, I show how to understand the end of part A and its transition to part B. In this transition, Hegel argues that the servant `comes to have a mind of their own' and becomes `thinking consciousness' or `stoic consciousness' in virtue of beginning to become rational. To this end, I argue that …
Beyond Depraved: Villainy And Self-Deception In Kant's Taxonomy Of Evil, Kevin Alexander Korczyk
Beyond Depraved: Villainy And Self-Deception In Kant's Taxonomy Of Evil, Kevin Alexander Korczyk
Theses and Dissertations
Kant’s account of evil has often been criticized for being overly restrictive in that it seems unable to account for profoundly immoral acts such as those committed by the Nazis. In response, most defenders of Kant have attempted to gerrymander his original categories of evil such that they become expansive enough to account for these cases. In this paper, I argue that such defenses fail because they rule out the possibility of immoral acts committed intentionally and in full knowledge of their immorality. However, I also show that there is room in Kant’s ethics for an additional category of evil …
Kant On Radical Evil, Kyoung Min Cho
Kant On Radical Evil, Kyoung Min Cho
Theses and Dissertations
The purpose of this thesis is to propose an interpretation of Kant’s claim that the human being’s evil nature is the effect of the free power of choice. I suggest that if his concept of free choice is properly understood, Kant’s claim should be interpreted as follows: the human being’s radical evil is the effect of a failure to use freely the power of choice that determines its fundamental disposition, a failure that is to be presupposed as universal for all human agents. According to this reading, we are evil by nature since evil lies in our fundamental disposition. Still, …
The Modal Status Of Kant's Postulate Of God's Existence, Mathew Jonathan Snow
The Modal Status Of Kant's Postulate Of God's Existence, Mathew Jonathan Snow
Theses and Dissertations
Kant is traditionally read as arguing that moral agents are rationally required to postulate the actual existence of God, but contemporary commentators' reconstructions of the argument only seem sufficient to warrant postulating the merely possible existence of God. There have been three attempts to address this seeming lacuna between what the argument is supposed to justify and what it does justify. Allen Wood defends the traditional interpretation - that Kant postulated the actual existence of God. M Jamie Ferreira proposes a revisionary interpretation - that Kant postulated the possible existence of God. Finally, Paul Guyer simply criticizes Kant for postulating …
Second Nature In Kant's Theory Of Artistic Creativity, Adam Blazej
Second Nature In Kant's Theory Of Artistic Creativity, Adam Blazej
Theses and Dissertations
One of the central claims of John McDowell's Mind and World is that, in reconciling an apparent opposition between the normative and the natural, philosophers should look to a notion of second nature: the idea that nature includes a species of animals (namely, human beings) who, through their socialization, transform themselves into rational beings capable of thinking about and acting in the world in response to reasons. McDowell argues that Kant lacks a notion of second nature and thereby fails to overcome the relevant problem of reconciliation. My aim in this paper is to show that (pace McDowell) Kant does …