Peak 188 Autonomous Action

He considers problems with a relatively more focused mind. He would say that in this world, abstract reasoning is meaningless. Ultimately, we live here, and moral behavior must be manifested as concrete, flesh and blood actions of each individual. In such a situation, what should we say?

That is the concrete infinite and the bad infinite. Without going into specifics, I'll just say that it's not right for you not to bury your parents. Anyway, you have to bury your parents before taking action; Or rather, it's not right for you not to tell your parents, regardless of whether they agree or not. This is their right, and as a child, you must report it to them before you can marry a wife. Not telling them is a great unfilial act, and it's infinitely bad. In Hegel's view.

The infinite good, Hegel would say that Mencius is right, 'When the world is drowning, help it with the Tao; when a sister-in-law is drowning, help it with the hands.' The specific ways to save people in crisis, animals in crisis, countries in crisis, and the world in crisis are different, but everyone must intervene in them, and this is the same. So, place, this is the place where we Chinese are powerful. Hegel is similar to us in this respect.

Why did Kant say that?

In his moral philosophy, he wants to emphasize the importance of autonomous action. He has something in himself, and what he does through autonomous action has absolute value. What he wants to emphasize is absoluteness and universality.

Why does he emphasize that we should do things at all costs, no matter what specific situations or difficulties I encounter, I will continue to do them? Kant said, because we have dignity, and the concept introduced here is dignity, which has absolute value for us humans.

So, he may say that Hegel's approach leads to opportunism.

People who are favorable to you will say, 'Considering the actual situation, what you are doing is not right. I want to comply with the authority and take another approach to slow down a bit. Actually, complying with the authority does not mean that there are no principles.'. Kant would say that the most moral absoluteness of things like us humans is determined by our practitioners' own dignity.

Every person who considers themselves an autonomous actor must believe that humans are the end, not a means to anything else. Therefore, we are the ones who do this for us. They must believe that they are doing this for their freedom, that is, for us humans. You say I do this for happiness, and I do this to repay them.

In Kant's view, including our current filial piety, we have to repay our parents before I go. I would rather give up on myself to go to college and go abroad, and take care of my parents. In Kant's view, this is precisely the most unethical idea. Why?

You see yourself as a means rather than an end. Kant believed that morality is ultimately related to our human dignity. The phrase 'dignity' is the one that moved countless people today: 'Man is an end, not a means.' We are not doing this for any benefit to me. If I do something, even if it is a spiritual benefit or a sense of moral superiority, and I do it to show that I am a filial son, then you still see yourself as a means. You do this kind of thing to achieve a purpose other than yourself, because the reputation of your filial son and you are... Two things.

Kant is very profound in his view that humans are the end, not the means. Ultimately, we should do things for the sake of our freedom. There can only be one reason for this, and freedom itself is the end. We should do what we want to do in the world, rather than being pushed away by any external force.

He said that unless we ultimately care about such freedom, we will not consider ourselves as autonomous actors, because if you don't feel like you have freedom, how can you see yourself as saying, 'I am willing to do this, without your willingness or unwillingness, external forces are stronger than you, how can you be unwilling or unwilling?'?

So Kant believed that this step was absolutely unacceptable, and I must believe that the ability to be free has absolute value to me, and what I truly care about is this matter.

I want to prove that I have this ability. When you prove it, you also prove that you see yourself as an end, not a means, because all the things you do, whether it's killing yourself, helping your parents, or helping others, are not meant to make them say hello or to make you a saint in society. No, you are doing this for yourself. Because you are free, you do it voluntarily, and you feel that it is a human dignity that requires you to do it, not for any other reason.

So, Kant has a famous saying that goes, 'Whether it is the human nature in your personality or the human nature in any other person's personality, you should always use it as a purpose at all times, and never just as a means.'.

All moral purposes can be attributed to this point, which has touched countless people later on. For example, when it comes to humanitarian philosophy, Kant can be considered the first one. Treating oneself as a goal and not others as a means is even more difficult, because today we have a common idea that people have a mutually beneficial relationship with each other. Even now, I think many people say filial piety to their parents, because parents have put a lot of energy into us. I want to repay them and see children and parents as a kind of utilization relationship.

It is not seen as absolute but relative, it means that market relationships exchange relationships. If you have been good to me before, I will be good to you again, back and forth. So, if Kant knew that we Chinese people have this idea now, he would be sad, he would say that you used yourself as a means, why do I need parents, because I was still living on my own at that time, I need them to support me, to raise me, and now I want to repay them, but also you use yourself as a means, because they are old now, I want to repay them, I become their means.

So, in Kant's view, those who treat others as means must also treat themselves as means, and those who treat themselves as ends can treat others as ends. Of course, it is not easy to achieve this, but the noble humanistic brilliance in him has touched countless people since he proposed it today.

For example, when applying for graduate school, the main choice is to choose a supervisor, as long as they are admitted. It doesn't matter to me who becomes a teacher. I just want to come in. I encountered this situation a year ago, when there were three people at the same time, I could only choose one because I couldn't take on more teachers. Other teachers also took care of me, so I chose another person. The other two, the first student asked, did the teacher admit me? I said of course I was admitted, it's just that other teachers took care of me.

Before I could finish speaking, I burst out laughing and walked away. There was one more person who I still feel sorry for. He graduated from a vocational school in Henan and studied accounting. You want to study accounting at a vocational school and be admitted with the same level of academic ability. You have been studying there day and night for five years, without any winter or summer vacations or holidays. If you pass the exam, I don't want him. You cry loudly and cry for one or two hours, but I can't persuade him. He cried and said to me, 'I told you that a certain teacher would take you, but he said,' I don't even want it. I'm not a casual teacher. I've studied all the teachers at Fudan University, and I think you're the most suitable for me. '.

So he cried. It was already dark until after six o'clock, and tears welled up as he prepared to go back. Later, I tried to stop him, but I told him to be cautious. Now that you have quit your job, what will you do when you return to Xinxiang, Henan?

I think you should stay, otherwise you will have problems in your future life. You are at Fudan University, and although I am not your mentor, we still have friendship. You can come to me anytime.

This finally woke him up, but the child was injured in the future. The child always felt that he had been bored in Fudan for the past three years, and now he is teaching at a university in Southwest China. Once he went on a business trip to Beijing, you helped me copy two books, and he went to the National Library in Beijing to get them for me. You don't need to thank the teacher, just give me more guidance in the future.

So, people are completely different from each other, and I also thought about the issue of people, goals, and means. Sometimes, I find it difficult to accept it even today. You wrote to me with great emotion, saying that I want to be your teacher. The teacher was afraid that he would use me as a means, but when he used me as a means, he also used himself as a means. He didn't think there was any connection between it.

Kangkang is in the area, he is indeed very noble and tall. Moral order, because there are still conventions, people are the purpose, not the means, it is still worth talking about. Because yesterday, a foreigner came to talk about it. He asked a question to the Germans. He thought that people are the purpose. What did he say is the bottom line?

All purposes are means, and the purpose of life is still a means, so people are means, not ends. He is an observer in society. Because in our society, it is indeed easy to let go of the concept of purpose. Nowadays, we all understand the laws above axioms, but we are not very good at understanding Kant, especially in the third criticism, which is ultimate. As Kant went on, the idea of human being as a teleological being became increasingly pure and profound.

The third criticism is extremely touching, as it discusses the purpose of the problem. Modern society only recognizes one purpose, and since the 17th century, teleology has been regarded by many people, especially English philosophers, as pure nonsense. teleology is superstition, like Aristotle's statement that the universe has a fundamental good purpose that guides its operation, which is superstition.

The idea that humans are the ultimate goal is a cornerstone of their entire moral responsibility. Because Kant regarded the moral order not as an order we create for ourselves, a man-made thing in which each of us has a designated role, and we are forced to obey such a designation, assume such a role, and fulfill the obligations that we should undertake.