Transcript Condorcet,Rousseau, & Kant - Hinsdale South High School

Condorcet,
Rousseau,
& Kant
Condorcet
Education for the masses
Education for women
Mechanical productivity gains
Increase in agricultural yield
Medical advances
Jean Jacques Rousseau
French Philosophe
“Man is born free, and
everywhere he is in
chains”
People are good
Society and government
make people bad
Rousseau’s Social Contract
Hobbes – Contract between man and an
absolute monarch
Locke – Contract between man and a
representative government
Rousseau – Contract between man and
his fellow men
Rousseau's Philosophy
Best government is popular sovereignty
(direct democracy)
Individual needs are secondary to the
“General Will”
Against private property and noble titles
Immanuel Kant
Born in Prussia
Professor of Logic
and Metaphysics at
the University of
Königsberg
Respect
“Act in such a way
that you always treat
humanity, whether in
your own person or in
the person of any
other, never simply as
a means, but always
at the same time as
an end.”
Categorical Imperative
How do we tell right
from wrong?
What makes right
actions right and
wrong actions wrong?
Maxim: a subjective
rule that the will of an
individual uses in
making a decision.
Kant’s Maxims
First Maxim: "Act only according to that maxim
whereby you can at the same time will that it
should become a universal law."
Second Maxim: “Act in such a way that you treat
humanity, whether in your own person or in the
person of any other, always at the same time as
an end and never merely as a means to an end.”
Third Maxim: “Therefore, every rational being
must so act as if he were through his maxim
always a legislating member in the universal
kingdom of ends.”
First Maxim
Is it okay to steal?
Maxim: Stealing is okay.
1st Maxim:
– Could it be a universal law?
– Could everyone go around
stealing from everyone else?
Answer: No
– There would be no such thing
as property
– There would be no such thing
as stealing
Result: Stealing is wrong
Second Maxim
What is the end result?
Getting something that
doesn’t belong to you.
Do the ends justify the means?
Did the act violate someone’s
freewill?
– Answer: Yes, you didn’t ask if
you could have the property.
Result: Stealing is wrong
Third Maxim
Does the maxim apply to
citizens?
– No, no property
Does the maxim apply to
rulers?
– No, a ruler wouldn’t want
citizens to steal from
government
Result: Stealing is wrong
Harder Cases
Try your logic on these:
Keeping
Promises
Charity
Suicide