Thinking Sociologically
What is Kant’s theory and critique of judgement?
You may not use theory to understand your reality, but theory certainly uses you. Whether you are a teacher, principle, lecturer, student or simply curious, in this short EDDi section Dr Stephen Whitehead will answer common questions related to sociological theory.
All of his answers were originally published on Quora*. We offer these answers on EDDi in the hope you acquire some sociological insights into the 21st century.
Treat these articles as a healthy, and heavier, counter-point to all the lighter fluff which gets posted on social media.
What is Kant’s theory and critique of judgement?
Kant produced an enormous amount of knowledge, theories, ideas, but one of his central arguments was that the individual is essentially free to act according to their needs and desires, and based on reason and experience.
At the same time, Kant argued that there were limits to reason, and that we should remain open to the metaphysical world, morality, the nonmaterial world (God, for instance).
We humans may consider ourselves accurate observers of reality, and we can indeed perceive the physical world around us (planets, planes, persons), but we are not seeing things as they are, but only as they appear to us. In other words, we see a planet and we label it a planet, analysis its movements, name it, and accord it a scientific rationality. But this is simply humans applying human understanding to something which exists external to us.
Similarly, with regard to morals and morality. Humans have struggled with morality since they first walked the earth, and even more so once they imagined a God and ascribed him the authority to dictate human moral codes and behaviour. Kant saw this moral confusion and uncertainty as a ‘bridge between the experience of being human and the nonmaterial world’.
Is the application of moral codes based on an innate human essence, the feeling that something is right or wrong, true or false? Or is it is based on a moral (God-given) law which exists prior to humankind?
Whatever, Kant saw morality as a defining and most positive aspect of being human. Without it, humans cannot exist. We can apply reason and rationality to our moral judgements, thereby rendering them true to us.
In a testament to Kant’s brilliance, one need only read the epitaph (taken from the Critique of Practical Reason) chiselled on his gravestone, for it signals not a man with answers, but a man who remained incredulous to the questions:
“Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the more often and steadily reflection occupied with them: the starry heaven above me and the moral law within me.”
Since 2017, Dr Stephen Whitehead has answered over 10,500 Quora questions, mostly on relationships, education, sociology, life and living, and philosophy. To date, his answers have received approximately 3.2 million views increasing at the rate 60,000 views a month. He has nearly 1,000 followers.
Stephen’s latest book ‘Total Inclusivity At Work’ is available for pre-order HERE.
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