The ‘End’ of Kant‐in‐Himself: Nietzschean difference

Abstract

Kant's over-reliance on universal reason and his subjection of free will to the moral law can be seen as normalising a particular and restrictive view of autonomous human existence-a view implicit in liberal accounts of education. Drawing on Nietzsche's critique of Kantian thought, this paper argues that the transcendental and unattainable realm of Kantian reason is insufficient as a sole basis for moral thought and action or as the basis of respect for others as 'ends-in-themselves'. For Nietzsche, the possibility for each individual goes well beyond compliance with any imposed system of values, his metaphorical 'death of God' leaving room for creativity and difference.

Towards a Pure Ontology: Children’s bodies and morality

“…Before looking closer at how a contemporary educational discourse such as ESD can be understood through a lens of Kantian ethics, however, it seems called for to briefly comment more generally on the relation between Kantian ethics and the development of Western education. Fitzsimons (2007) places Kantian ethics in a central position in relation to modern Western education, emphasizing the importance of the idea of the rational beings' supposed access to the good will for education as an Enlightenment project. He concludes that:…”

Chapter 4 Naturalisms, Materialisms and the Ideal World

“…To recap, we need not interpret Kant's Copernican insight that objects conform to our knowledge in terms of the idea that ‘an active reason imposes order on the world’ (Fitzsimmons, 2007, p. 561) or as ‘Kant's thesis that our mind does not derive laws from nature, but imposes them on it’ (von Glasersfeld, 1984, p. 73). Rather it can be put as: we perceive and respond to objects in light of our knowledge of them.…”

Chapter 10 Situated and Sensitive Agents

“…Peter Fitzsimons similarly disapproves of Kant's unattainable realm of universal reason: ‘Kant's moral reasoning had relied upon a structure of concepts and categories by means of which an active reason imposes order on the world. Kantian principles of practical reason were not natural objects capable of discovery, so much as the creation of individual reason and desire’ (2007, p. 561). Principles are seen as a creation of individual reason and desire.…”