PHIL 1 Lecture 24: Phil 1 Notes 24
15 Sep 2020
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Kant"s groundwork is concerned with the ought , what he calls the supreme principle of morality. This is the standard to which we hold ourselves when we evaluate our actions (judge them to be right or wrong). Kant defines this standard as a law - the law of freedom. This law cannot be found in the natural world, since the laws of nature only determine what does happen, not what ought to happen (even when it doesn"t) In other worlds, a natural order to which all humans and things reside. Nature does not tell us what we should do. Laws of freedom, according to kant, are the laws that determine what human beings ought to do. Kant calls the ought the law of freedom because it only makes sense of hold people to standards, even if they are free to meet them. Example: no matter how terrible your childhood may have been, we expect you to do the right thing.
