Doctrine of the Elements of Ethics

I found it interesting that Kant chose to talk about people in their “animal nature”. This made the emotions more barbaric and striped away the logic.
I would ask Kant what he thought about a person who “takes a bullet” for another person. They know they are going to die, but they step in front of the person anyways in order to protect the other person. Is this still murdering oneself? I think that this would be a heroic action; I don’t believe it should be looked down upon.
As a society why do we try to separate love and lust if it is the same thing? We say how love does not center around the physical aspect, but isn’t Kant saying that it does? I would ask him about that too.
Also, was Kant justifying the inhumane treatment of drunks? When I was reading that is what I understood, but I don’t think that it was right.
Another point that I thought was very important was the knowledge of yourself and who you are. It is important to know your natural perfections so that you might use them in society to better those around you and yourself.
I found this quote interesting: “Every concept of duty involves objective constraint through a law and belongs to practical understanding, which provides a rule” (189). I think this means that all of our actions are governed by law. We don’t have that much free choice in what we do.
Kant spent a lot of time (he must have thought that it was important) describing how people should interact with each other. He says we must love, sympathize, and respect each other. He later makes the distinction between friendship and moral friendship. He explains how moral friendship is “deeper”, and the person can share all their secrets with the other.
“The very concept of virtue already implies that virtue must be acquired; one need not appeal to anthropological knowledge based on experience to see this” (221). I thought this was a very smart connection and proof that it must be acquired. Kant made his point very well. He emphasizes that virtue can and must be taught.

I found it very appropriate that Kant ended his book with his comment about religion. When I first took this class, I thought that we couldn’t talk about morals without talking about religion and God. But, people like Kant have proved me wrong.
“This, then, confirms what was maintained above: that ethics cannot extend beyond the limits of human beings’ duties to one another” (232).

Yay! I always feel so good after I finish a bunch of reading.