http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/ kant-l Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:08:13 GMT Reason Lover http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/569 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/569 The "idea of rebirth" or, as Kant called it, the change of heart (assuming they are the same), does not threaten to undo any unity. It is simply a return to an Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:29:39 GMT Reason Lover http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/568 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/568 The import of the transcendental in general is the freedom of clarity in understanding something down to its roots. In this case, antithetic (or better Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:49:48 GMT B Merrill http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/567 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/567 Apologies for not making myself more clear: The problem of excessive selfishness engenders morality, as a (functional) antithetic. The content of morality is, Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:37:55 GMT Reason Lover http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/566 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/566 I don't see "why" you start with selfishness as an antithetic, you only say that this has to be done. There is no way to know what is antithetic without first Mon, 07 Sep 2009 11:36:58 GMT B Merrill http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/565 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/565 See CPrR p25, Comment II for Kant's usage of "rational but limited" as an explanation of why morality bears upon us. Because we are "limited" by our Mon, 07 Sep 2009 11:27:22 GMT B Merrill http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/564 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/564 Sorry, but I can't see what you're getting it. This may be because I don't grasp the import of the transcendental in regard to morality. Mon, 07 Sep 2009 11:24:41 GMT B Merrill http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/563 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/563 Morality begins in simplicity and antithetic function, and unfolds to complexity and idealism. This movement of morality's unfolding is also how we should Mon, 07 Sep 2009 06:50:52 GMT Omar http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/562 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/562 Bruce, Selfishness, in the sense you speak of, cannot exhaust the possibilities of immorality. For Kant such immorality includes not realizing your potential, Sun, 06 Sep 2009 21:05:17 GMT Reason Lover http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/561 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/561 The strong and cunning already take advantage. There is no law to prevent this. But no matter how externally important these ideas are (for whatever unknown Sun, 06 Sep 2009 20:41:42 GMT B Merrill http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/560 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/560 ... You have to distinguish between legitimate self-interest and selfishness, when self-interest cross the line to: abuse, neglect, exploitation, etc. ... It Sun, 06 Sep 2009 19:27:27 GMT Reason Lover http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/559 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/559 I'm not seeing where Hume was considered a functionalist or used that word to describe himself, so apparently you mean something else by that term. Nor did Sun, 06 Sep 2009 14:57:20 GMT Reason Lover http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/558 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/558 The soul of man is innately good, and by nature this cannot be corrupted. However, he also, as a physical body inhabited by a soul, has a propensity for evil, Sun, 06 Sep 2009 14:17:25 GMT Reason Lover http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/557 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/557 If an "evil will" is not exempt from the moral law, then it is not evil. The most you can say is that it is ill-informed, not by the law itself which is always Sun, 06 Sep 2009 11:48:17 GMT B Merrill http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/556 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/556 In our era we now have the psychological insight which allows us to understand the most evil will, the sadistic will. This insight was not available to Kant. Sun, 06 Sep 2009 11:35:10 GMT B Merrill http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/555 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kant-l/message/555 On functional grounds, I reverse this. The content of morality is engendered by the given problem of excessive selfishness. If it were not for this problem,