display all the ideas for this combination of texts
3 ideas
| 5596 | We must assume an absolute causal spontaneity beginning from itself [Kant] |
| Full Idea: It must be assumed that there is an absolute causal spontaneity beginning from itself. | |
| From: Immanuel Kant (Critique of Pure Reason [1781], B474/A446) | |
| A reaction: Note that this is part of the Antinomies (conflicts) of pure reason. This phrase is a beautiful statement of the dream that is free will. |
| 9756 | We must be free, because we can act against our strongest desires [Kant, by Korsgaard] |
| Full Idea: The fact that we are able to act against our strongest desires reveals to us that we are free, and so are members of the intelligible world. | |
| From: report of Immanuel Kant (Critique of Pure Reason [1781]) by Christine M. Korsgaard - Intro to 'Creating the Kingdom of Ends' Ch.1 | |
| A reaction: Can he prove that we can act against our strongest desires? If you choose to drown yourself in the sink, you may just be in the grips of a very strong desire to do so, which defeats the normal desire to survive. |
| 5597 | If there is a first beginning, there can be other sequences initiated from nothing [Kant] |
| Full Idea: Because we must establish the necessity of a first beginning to make comprehensible an origin of the world, we are permitted to allow that in the course of the world different series may begin on their own as far as their causality is concerned. | |
| From: Immanuel Kant (Critique of Pure Reason [1781], B478/A450) | |
| A reaction: This reinforces my firmly held view, that human free will is a bogus concept, which was invented in order place God above nature, and then ascribed to human beings because no other explanation of moral responsibility could be found. |