I disagree strongly with Kant’s idea something to be good must be good at all times and all places. We live in a world of shadows, and half lights and half truths. I think unloving sex is really bad for a person - 99.99% of the time. Once in a blue moon it isn’t. Because people’s needs, genuine needs, often can’t be perfectly met in one place sometimes we get truth given to us in three moments that add to a whole truth. Each of those might not be perfect. But they were perfect for that moment at that time.
I agree with you. This postulate, along with a few others, caused me to take notice and start examining Kant's ideas. I think that it's possible for any thinking individual to have good ideas as well as bad. No one, least of all a 'philosopher', is exempt from having each idea examined on its own merits.
I have just discovered your Substack, since you have just subscribed to mine: so thanks very much for that.
This is just the second post of yours that I've read, but already I'm also really grateful to you for steering me towards Kant and his ideas, and in a very digestible form too. So I am a complete beginner and know nothing! but my immediate reaction is that I wonder if later readers or interpreters of Kant are conflating a search for things which are Good (for all time for all people - categorical imperatives) with the idea that for something to be called "good" it must be Good. I mean - surely it is obvious to anyone (let alone an "intellectual badass"!) that things which can be described as "good" are not always so for everyone in all circumstances.
The example given of lying, and the statement that if something is not ALWAYS wrong or right, then it is not a valid ETHICAL PRINCIPLE, tends to affirm this idea. So (IF my conjecture is true) if lying is usually wrong it's not because it is an ethical principle that lying is always wrong: it's because attempts to deceive - as opposed to "white lies" are wrong because of a greater ethical principle (to do with using others as a means etc.).
I'm also impressed with how open about yourself and your feelings you are with the unknown readers. I know from many examples that people find that very appealing: they love to hear others describing their shortfalls, that they can identify with so strongly. And yet I'm pretty sure that one of my faults is that I avoid it like the plague in my writing!
When I started forcing myself to write more regularly and was looking for 'my voice' I found very quickly that I do it better and more consistently if I can just be honest in the moment. I have struggled in the past with writing because I'm the kind of person who wants it to flow effortlessly and perfectly the first time. As I write it. I do a lot of revisions and rewriting in my head as I stare at a blank page. It took a lot of hard experience to learn (from excellent writers, mind you) that that's not the way it works. I had to learn to get the junk out of my head to clear room for new thoughts, ideas, and, well, junk. Then I could go back and revise and edit. When I started doing that I found that 'my voice' is just acknowledging that honesty in the process. Then I learned that we all are flawed, and I need to be better about giving space and grace to others to change their minds and flesh out their ideas.
As regards Kant, I think a large problem is that, as you say, later readers and interpreters have conflated ideas. Surely that can be said for any public thinker, philosopher, or intellectual to a greater or lesser degree. That's why source material is important to me.
I think you're on to something in seeing the difference between lying as a proactive effort to deceive and as a (usually) reactive effort to conform to a social paradigm. It's one of many comments in the video which perked my ears and made me consider putting together a whole post on Kant.
I was rather partial to Sasquatch myself! We went to the NW on a vacation when I was a kid. Early 90s and I was looking for Harry and the Hendersons the whole time. Sorry about the job search. I'm doing the same got a bunch of apps out and an interview next week. Something has got to give. I'm not blowing up a pipeline or starting an insult the John Only Fans as hilarious as that could be. Lol. Enjoy the cling to Mom phases. Best days ever when he gets a little bigger and you've gotten used to it. I stepped on a bee or two Sat running around outside. Full Mama heart, throbbing foot and worth every second. Definitely a rose and thorn all rolled into one. Totally write about the coding. I quit data Sci bc I didn't want to learn SQL but am doing a thing this week to try to get some certs and change careers so I get it. Pump your fellow millenials up we can use the pep talk! You'll get something soon. Any job will be lucky to have you on staff. I'd hire ya.
I love Harry and the Hendersons! I periodically forget about it for a while, only to be reminded. And on top of that, I had a stuff Harry which was about 18 inches tall. One of my prized possessions when I was young. [I wonder where it went...🤔]
Interesting note about that movie, in the end scene when Harry walks off into the woods, the other Yetis who suddenly appear and walk off with him were standing there the whole scene. It wasn't a camera trick, they just were standing there standing still against the wooded backdrop, and were effectively invisible unless you know to look for them. https://youtu.be/PJkmvYEqRVEt=89
I disagree strongly with Kant’s idea something to be good must be good at all times and all places. We live in a world of shadows, and half lights and half truths. I think unloving sex is really bad for a person - 99.99% of the time. Once in a blue moon it isn’t. Because people’s needs, genuine needs, often can’t be perfectly met in one place sometimes we get truth given to us in three moments that add to a whole truth. Each of those might not be perfect. But they were perfect for that moment at that time.
I agree with you. This postulate, along with a few others, caused me to take notice and start examining Kant's ideas. I think that it's possible for any thinking individual to have good ideas as well as bad. No one, least of all a 'philosopher', is exempt from having each idea examined on its own merits.
I have just discovered your Substack, since you have just subscribed to mine: so thanks very much for that.
This is just the second post of yours that I've read, but already I'm also really grateful to you for steering me towards Kant and his ideas, and in a very digestible form too. So I am a complete beginner and know nothing! but my immediate reaction is that I wonder if later readers or interpreters of Kant are conflating a search for things which are Good (for all time for all people - categorical imperatives) with the idea that for something to be called "good" it must be Good. I mean - surely it is obvious to anyone (let alone an "intellectual badass"!) that things which can be described as "good" are not always so for everyone in all circumstances.
The example given of lying, and the statement that if something is not ALWAYS wrong or right, then it is not a valid ETHICAL PRINCIPLE, tends to affirm this idea. So (IF my conjecture is true) if lying is usually wrong it's not because it is an ethical principle that lying is always wrong: it's because attempts to deceive - as opposed to "white lies" are wrong because of a greater ethical principle (to do with using others as a means etc.).
I'm also impressed with how open about yourself and your feelings you are with the unknown readers. I know from many examples that people find that very appealing: they love to hear others describing their shortfalls, that they can identify with so strongly. And yet I'm pretty sure that one of my faults is that I avoid it like the plague in my writing!
Thank you, Jonathan, for your comment.
When I started forcing myself to write more regularly and was looking for 'my voice' I found very quickly that I do it better and more consistently if I can just be honest in the moment. I have struggled in the past with writing because I'm the kind of person who wants it to flow effortlessly and perfectly the first time. As I write it. I do a lot of revisions and rewriting in my head as I stare at a blank page. It took a lot of hard experience to learn (from excellent writers, mind you) that that's not the way it works. I had to learn to get the junk out of my head to clear room for new thoughts, ideas, and, well, junk. Then I could go back and revise and edit. When I started doing that I found that 'my voice' is just acknowledging that honesty in the process. Then I learned that we all are flawed, and I need to be better about giving space and grace to others to change their minds and flesh out their ideas.
As regards Kant, I think a large problem is that, as you say, later readers and interpreters have conflated ideas. Surely that can be said for any public thinker, philosopher, or intellectual to a greater or lesser degree. That's why source material is important to me.
I think you're on to something in seeing the difference between lying as a proactive effort to deceive and as a (usually) reactive effort to conform to a social paradigm. It's one of many comments in the video which perked my ears and made me consider putting together a whole post on Kant.
Thank you for the discourse!
I was rather partial to Sasquatch myself! We went to the NW on a vacation when I was a kid. Early 90s and I was looking for Harry and the Hendersons the whole time. Sorry about the job search. I'm doing the same got a bunch of apps out and an interview next week. Something has got to give. I'm not blowing up a pipeline or starting an insult the John Only Fans as hilarious as that could be. Lol. Enjoy the cling to Mom phases. Best days ever when he gets a little bigger and you've gotten used to it. I stepped on a bee or two Sat running around outside. Full Mama heart, throbbing foot and worth every second. Definitely a rose and thorn all rolled into one. Totally write about the coding. I quit data Sci bc I didn't want to learn SQL but am doing a thing this week to try to get some certs and change careers so I get it. Pump your fellow millenials up we can use the pep talk! You'll get something soon. Any job will be lucky to have you on staff. I'd hire ya.
I love Harry and the Hendersons! I periodically forget about it for a while, only to be reminded. And on top of that, I had a stuff Harry which was about 18 inches tall. One of my prized possessions when I was young. [I wonder where it went...🤔]
Interesting note about that movie, in the end scene when Harry walks off into the woods, the other Yetis who suddenly appear and walk off with him were standing there the whole scene. It wasn't a camera trick, they just were standing there standing still against the wooded backdrop, and were effectively invisible unless you know to look for them. https://youtu.be/PJkmvYEqRVEt=89
That was one of my favorite parts. He found others.