[lit-ideas] Re: A serious inquiry: Hannah
- From: wokshevs@xxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 13 Aug 2006 16:29:15 -0230
Phil --
A very thoughtful post. I'll get to it as soon as Summer grades are in. In the
meantime, could you provide me with the references to the quotations you cite
below? Prussian Academy if possible. I'd much appreciate it.
One of the difficulties I have with Kant's political writings has to do with him
not abiding by the same maxim M. Ali did not abide by: "Know when it's time to
hang up the gloves." I think his political theory is a mess. But Arendt is a
subtle and honest thinker, so I will give her the benefit of the doubt ... for
now. A bientot, Walter
Quoting Phil Enns <phil.enns@xxxxxxxxxxx>:
> Walter Okshevsky wrote:
>
> "Moral judgement for Kant has no necessary relation to ends desired.
> Moral judgements are practical judgements (and conversely). Morality and
> politics are separate spheres for Kant ..."
>
>
> Certainly there is no necessary relation between moral judgments and
> ends desired, and morality and politics are separate spheres, but it
> seems to me there is a relationship between the two for Kant that comes
> out in _Conflict_. Government has a responsibility to promote proper
> moral judgments.
>
> "According to reason (that is, objectively), the following order exists
> among the incentives that the government can use to achieve its end (of
> influencing the people): first comes the eternal well-being of each ...
> By public teachings about the first of these [i.e. eternal well-being],
> the government can exercise very great influence to uncover the inmost
> thoughts and guide the most secret intentions of its subjects."
>
> The manner in which Kant thinks religion can be used to promote proper
> moral judgments is described in _Religion Within the Limits_, but
> clearly Kant here sees a role for Government in guiding moral judgments.
> This role is a role proper to Government not practical reason yet the
> proper exercise of practical reason facilitates the operation of good
> Government and so Government ought to concern itself with practical
> reason.
>
> Government concerns itself with practical reason not only through the
> practice of religion but also through legislative power.
>
> "To refuse to obey an external and supreme will on the grounds that it
> allegedly does not conform with reason would be absurd; for the dignity
> of the government consists precisely in this: that it does not leave its
> subjects free to judge what is right or wrong according to their own
> notions, but [determines right and wrong - trans.] for them by precepts
> of the legislative power."
>
> The exercise of practical reason is not a solitary practice but communal
> and so there is a place for Government to guide practical reason through
> its legislative power. To be clear, Kant is not at all suggesting that
> this legislative power determines practical judgments but rather
> functions as a reification of a common practical reason.
>
> To guard against the conflation of the moral and political spheres, Kant
> turns to philosophy.
>
> "Now we may well comply with a practical teaching out of obedience, but
> we can never accept it as true simply because we are ordered to. This
> is not only objectively impossible (a judgment that ought not to be
> made), but also subjectively quite impossible (a judgment that no one
> can make). ... So when it is a question of the truth of a certain
> teaching to be expounded in public, the teacher cannot appeal to a
> supreme command nor the pupil pretend that he believed it by order.
> This can happen only when it is a question of action, and even then the
> pupil must recognize by a free judgment that such a command was really
> issued and that he is obligated or at least entitled to obey it;
> otherwise, his acceptance of it would be an empty pretense and a lie.
> Now the power to judge autonomously - that is, freely (according to
> principles of thought in general) - is called reason. So the philosophy
> faculty, because it must answer for the truth of the teachings it is to
> adopt or even allow, must be conceived as free and subject only to laws
> given by reason, not by the government."
>
> The Philosophy faculty serves the interests of the Government by testing
> the truth of any public teaching so that what is authorized by the
> Government not only has the force of legislative power but also, and
> most importantly, the force of reason. Philosophy determines whether
> particular practical judgments is true and therefore to be endorsed by
> the Government while also determining whether any particular act of
> Government is true and therefore ought to be disseminated as part of the
> communal practical reason. In this way political judgment and moral
> judgment are distinguished yet a necessary relationship between the two
> comes into view.
>
> I agree with Walter that it is all very messy but I think one can find
> in Kant's writing, and in particular _Conflict_, a sense that there is a
> necessary relationship between the exercise of political judgment and
> practical judgment.
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Phil Enns
> Toronto, ON
>
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