Heteronomy and Autonomy (Immanuel Kant, Groundwork, sec. 2-3) - A Course In Ethics

[@GregoryBSadler]

I don't mind that -- so long as I can get them talking, thinking, taking something home with them from the class session, they and I have something we can work with. I'd love for students to come to my class, eager, brimming over with questions, having read the material assiduously, ready to examine and debate -- but I've never taught in any place remotely like that myself. I've come to see my own role more and more as that of bridging the gap, getting the concepts across to the students

[@GregoryBSadler]

Well, among the videos I've got so far, you'll want to take a look at the ones where I talk about Groundwork, sec 3. Those topics, of course, are ones dealt with thematically in the Prolegomena, not so much in the Groundwork, which this video is about

[@hollya1132]

Thanks for posting this. I wanted to learn more about what is meant by moral autonomy, and this lecture was very helpful to me.

[@GregoryBSadler]

Not at present. Here's a bit of helpful KZbin advice -- go to my actual channel, and look through the videos and playlists to see what I've got so far. Now, any questions about Kant's moral theory?

[@harryflashman4542]

Thank you for making these classes available on youtube.I am enjoying listening into your engaging discussions on ethics and it is a wonderful way to get a little familiar with some of the big ideas and grow a little.ps you had some good students in your class - their comments are so interesting too.

[@GregoryBSadler]

Sometimes I luck out with the students I get

[@GregoryBSadler]

Good to find out that it gets the points across -- these are some fairly tough concepts in Kant, and he doesn't really help the average student make sense of them by the way he writes

[@GregoryBSadler]

Thanks! Glad to read it

[@giacutie]

Free will is not rational will. We can rationalize our actions, exercise our free will to use ratio, rational thinking can justify free will, but it's not free will itself. This is an old video /lecture, but I wanted to share. I like listening to you, cheers

[@4444kenpachi4444]

Thank you so much for these videos. You explain everything very well. :)

[@GregoryBSadler]

+4444kenpachi4444 You're welcome!

[@GregoryBSadler]

Which premise?

[@Kiwibrighton1]

Enjoyed your lecture

[@nikitapierpoint6631]

Thank you for posting these Kant videos - they're really helping me get to grips with the material. I'm trying to focus in on Kant's view of autonomy - do you know of any other philosophers who take similar views/very opposing views so that I can understand autonomy better? Thanks again!

[@GregoryBSadler]

+Nikita P Glad that the videos are helpful for you. There are plenty of discussions of autonomy out there, which you can easily find with a quick search. Alternately, if you'd like to work out a course of individualized study, that is something I do through tutorials. If you're interested in that, here is my site: reasonio.wordpress.com/tutorials/

[@marquezedmon]

Do you have any talks on William James?

[@gipissmith5110]

Thanks for posting all these class setting video. Now, in my opinion Kant intentionally wrote complex volumes to cover up the simple fact that, the entire Kantian premise is an ego boosting satire.

[@GregoryBSadler]

So do I

[@marquezedmon]

In a nutshell, how is freedom, immortality and God connected to one another and, can you say something about Kant's "transcendental humanism." Thank you.

[@danbrown1990]

Thanks for this, it's a nice supplement to my current Ethics course. So here's a question. Do you think there is any tension between Kant's notion of freewill (being merely an idea) and the importance autonomy has in Kantian ethics.

[@GregoryBSadler]

Not in the sense you might think -- it's not "merely an idea" in the sense in which we typically use that phrase. It means that in doing the Metaphysics of Morals, as he says in the Groundwork, we do in fact go past the phenomenal realm of sensibility and to ideas that can be grasped by reason. Those ideas are real, in some sense, and even foundational -- but they're not perceivable or even graspable through experience -- just through thinking

[@danbrown1990]

I see. I think I took him as saying that free will was illusory (or at least, it seems impossible to fully know whether we have it) but the idea alone was sufficient. So I was curious as to whether the uncertainty surrounding knowledge regarding free will was at odds with the importance he places on autonomy.

[@GregoryBSadler]

This is actually one of those areas that's not all that well-decided for Kant, which is why his successors (and even critics) picked up on the need to delve a bit more into just how the will (and as a free will, in a world which does admit of some determinism) could work and be real

[@danbrown1990]

Gregory B. Sadler Interesting. Worth thinking about then I guess. I'm going to ask my lecturer the same question tomorrow, I'll see what she says. Thanks for the lucid lectures (and hasty replies) by the way!

[@GregoryBSadler]

You're quite welcome. Let me know what her view is -- oftentimes, ask two interpreters, get two different answers, and they could both be interesting

[@SuperAshton10]

hope i learn something

[@lubucao]

I'm sorry, I just Kant!

[@GregoryBSadler]

Everyone wants to be an exception