The notion of practical reason in the ethics of Immanuel Kant /Part 2/

he goal of nature is man, but not as a natural, but as a purposeable being, as a subject of morality. The purpose of man is the moral law. If the world has a goal, then it will also have dignity. The definition of dignity is a judgment. If there is no intelligent being in the world capable of discussing the price of things, the things have no value, the world has no value. Such a being is man, every purpose of nature is conditioned by man's being, and man is therefore the ultimate goal of nature. With the increase of human freedom, nature is getting closer to its ultimate goal. Man is truly free when he acts aimlessly, with complete independence from nature and possessions, and therefore from his own selfish purposes. Only the moral man is truly free. the dignity of life lies not in what we enjoy, but in what we do. The imperative attributing the duty to virtue also has a goal, but that is the goal we must have, that is the ultimate unconditional goal. The person is the bearer of the moral goal, but it can also be identified with the universal one, identified by the law. Kant suggests that the maxim "act only according to such a maxim, leading from which you at the same time may wish that it become a universal law"; "Act so that the maxim of your act by your will becomes a universal law of nature." Kant searches for the universality of the law under which action takes place, the existence of property as long as it is determined by universal law.

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The philosophy of nature deals with empirical laws. Reason, however, defines behavior only for oneself. for a person to do so requires the ability to precisely determine himself / herself to act in accordance with the notion of these laws. This ability is the will. What serves the will as the objective basis of its self-determination is a goal, and the goal must be equally important to all intelligent beings. The subjective ground of desire is a motive, the objective basis of the request - a reason. Man exists as a goal for himself, not just as a means. Man as a goal exists in the realm of purpose. The goal is debt. The purpose and the maxim of the act are the main thing, which must show the validity of the categorical imperative. Ethics provides laws not for acts but for maxims for actions. Kant sets the so-called principle of autonomy, which is a condition of coincidence of will and practical reason. Autonomy states that the will of every intelligent being is known as a universal law. So the will is not just subordinate to the law, it sets the law, it is the "author" of the law. This autonomy of will helps to make sense of the "kingdom of the goals" - the unification of all intelligent beings under a common law. To be only a legislator in the realm of purpose, not a subordinate, one must have his own will - one that would be subordinate to duty and law at the same time.

Kant also sets a definition of the word dignity. It opposes the dignity of the price. One can not be evaluated. The price is always relative. Only the morality and humanity of everything capable of morality has value, it has dignity. Morality is the attitude of the actions to the autonomy of the will. Action that coincides with autonomy of will is a permitted action. The will whose maxims coincide with the laws of autonomy is absolutely goodwill. nothing is good, and nothing is truly moral in the world unless it is goodwill. Higher good must be accomplished not as a means of some purpose, but as an unconditional purpose of reason. Kant accepts three postulates of practical reason - immortality, freedom, God's being. Higher good is a moral goal that can not be realized without the ability of freedom. The superior good consists in perfect happiness. Happiness relates to the whole state of life. The law itself does not promise us happiness, but it concerns the outer order of things. The state of the world and the state of life are in keeping with the moral mood. To accomplish the higher good means to strive for moral perfection, to be through this worthy of bliss. Without freedom it is impossible to strive for moral perfection, and for the immortality of the soul - without God.

Part 1