Kantian Ethics - Influences On Kantian Ethics

Influences On Kantian Ethics

The philosopher Louis Pojman has suggested four strong influences on Kant's ethics. The first suggested is the Lutheran sect Pietism, to which Kant's parents subscribed. Pietism emphasised honesty and moral living over doctrinal belief, more concerned with feeling than rationality. Kant believed that rationality is required, but that it should be concerned about morality and good will. Manfred Kuehn, Kant's biographer, suggested that the values Kant's parents held, of "hard work, honesty, cleanliness, and independence”, set him an example and influenced him more that their Pietism did. In the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Michael Rohlf suggested that Kant was influenced by his teacher, Martin Knutzen, himself influenced by the work of Christian Wolff and John Locke, and who introduced Kant to the work of English physicist Isaac Newton. Pojman also suggested that Kant was influenced by the political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau and that his work, The Social Contract, influenced his view on the fundamental worth of human beings. Pojman suggested that Kant was influenced by the contemporary debate between rationalism and empiricism: rationalists believed that morality is a form of moral knowledge, while empiricists argued that morality is based on human desire. Kant rejected the idea that morality is based on human nature and argued that reason, rather than human desire, can determine what is moral. Finally, Pojman suggested that Kant was influenced by natural law and intuitionist moral theories.