Immanuel Kant lived in the 18th century and
is considered to be one of the greatest German philosophers and one of the central Enlightenment
thinkers of all time. His philosophical revolution was to place
the human at the center of the philosophical study of knowledge, morality, and beauty. He deeply believed that reason is the root
of morality. His thoughts on the relationship between reason
and human experience led to the notion of “procedural humanism” or “Kantian humanism”. The work of Immanuel Kant is still relevant
today as the humanistic values of Western culture are deeply influenced by the Kantian
moral philosophy. To understand his moral philosophy and its
relevance in the modern world better, here are 10 Life Lessons from Immanuel Kant:
1) Do not treat others as merely means Kant says: “Act that you use humanity, whether
in your own person or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end,
never merely as a means.” Kant considered humanity an end in itself,
that human beings do not exist for some external purpose, their purpose is to achieve their
fullest perfection through their own freedom, their existence is a creation whose dignity
must be protected at all costs. In other words, we need to treat people with
respect, seeing them firstly as human beings and not as a means that we can use to achieve
our goals. This doesn’t forbid us to use the services
of other people, if this is part of their job and as long as they perform that service
willingly. We have to connect to other people in a way
that we respect their freedom and humanity, in a way that honors their dignity. Kant didn’t refer here only to how to behave
in respect to other people, but also to how we think about our interaction with them. Every human being has their own absolute moral
worth. Things like lying, violence and deception
are never alright. If somebody is deceived, they cannot make
an autonomous decision about how to act, because their decision is based on false information. The person who deceives is totally disrespecting
the other person’s goals, interests and feelings. You can use people as means, but never as
merely means. For example, consider you are in a coffee
shop and you want to order a coffee from the waitress. You can use the waitress to get your coffee,
but you have to respect her as a human being at the same time, you should not yell at her
if she is late and you should not embarrass her in front of her managers and other customers. Treating her with respect means using her
as an end, not as merely a means. 2) Fight for freedom
Kant tells us: “Freedom is the faculty that enlarges the usefulness of all other faculties.” Kant is often called “the philosopher of
freedom” and indeed, many of the modern concepts of human rights are based in his
philosophy. Human rights are derived from the idea of
freedom and, according to Kant, it is imperative to protect the freedom of all people. So we cannot trample on one person's right
in order to help others. For example, killing a healthy person to distribute
their organs to other sick people would be wrong even though two or three lives could
be saved, or even one million. Everyone has an essential human dignity which,
no matter what, cannot be trampled upon. Kant's perception of freedom is also related
to the right to control one's acts according to reason, not according to one’s feelings. Although everybody has the right to be free,
not everybody is as free as they should be. Therefore, there is always a struggle involved
and we all should participate in the fight to liberate every human from any form of tyranny. Only by being free, are people able to develop
themselves, to enlarge their possibilities, to increase the number of choices they can
make in life. Being free is a prerequisite of any great
human development. Kant didn’t define freedom in the libertarian
sense, you are not free to do whatever you want, you are free only when you act in accordance
with your best nature and we are slaves whenever we are under the rule of our passions or of
others. For Kant, a free will and a will under moral
laws are one and the same. Freedom is not the absence of government,
it is a state that allows everybody to become more reasonable and rational.To create a better
world for you and for others, to increase the overall freedom of all, you need to protect
your human rights, your freedom, as well as the rights and freedom of all the people around
you, whoever they are. For example, women are less discriminated
against nowadays compared to centuries past, today you can find them working in every sector
of industry and in many branches of the government and this is due to their fight to gain equal
rights and freedom. However, there is still a lot of work to be
done. Regardless of whether you are a woman or not,
everybody can contribute to improving the status of women around the world, to enable
them to become citizens with equal rights everywhere, and to assure their freedom. This is just as true for LGBTQ+ communities
or any minority group. We need to pay attention to what we vote for,
to go out and protest against immoral laws, immoral behaviour and anything that affects
people’s freedom as long as that demanded freedom does not interfere with other people’s
freedom and rights. 3) Respect animals
In the words of Kant “He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings
with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment
of animals.” It is imperative to respect any conscious
being and it has recently been proven by science that mammals, or at least a part of them,
are conscious beings. These findings were made public by the Cambridge
Declaration on Consciousness in 2012. Being conscious beings, animals have a certain
amount of reasoning faculties. If Kant knew about the scientific evidence
that some animals have consciousness, he would probably have declared that it is an imperative
duty to respect those animals’ rights for a good life, to abstain from any cruel treatment
towards them. Animals are living species the same as humans,
just with a low intelligence. It is our duty to be their guardian. This Kantian philosophy can be implemented
in one’s life through the humane treatment of animals, by not subjecting them to harm,
by protesting against cruel treatment, such as experiments for cosmetics, destroying natural
habitat like clearing the rainforests of the Amazon to raise beef cattle or hunting animals
that are in danger of extinction such as whales or rhinos. 4) Act from duty
To quote Kant: “An action, to have moral worth, must be done from duty.” Kant argues that human action is only morally
acceptable if it is done from a sense of duty. That duty is a formal principle that is not
based on self-interest or considering what results might follow. Kant took the business of morality to be a
matter of pure rational will. He thinks that to decide something based on
logic and reason is far better than to choose something based on feelings and emotions. When emotions and feelings become dominant
in our intelligence, then we often do things we end up regretting. Emotions tend to affect us so much, often
taking us to extremes from great pleasure and happiness to great sorrow, but they should
not be the ones in charge of taking the decisions instead of us. We have to train ourselves to be calm in any
situation and always strive to be virtuous beings who perform their duties. Let’s imagine the case of a customer service
agent. If she does her job with a smile on her face,
being polite to every customer out of a sense of duty because this is part of her job, then
this is morally more valuable than if she puts the smile on her face because she genuinely
cares for her customers. In the last case, her feelings might change
if somebody dies in her family for example and she would not be able to have the same
smile. In the first case, no matter what happens
in her private life, she will do her job, because this is her duty. In the long run, she will serve better the
customers overall, assuring a constant level of quality in regards to her job, benefiting
thus every customer with whom she interacts. 5) Have your own moral law
Kant says:“Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe,
the more often and steadily reflect upon them: the starry heavens above me and the moral
law within me.” In Kantian philosophy, the moral law is not
given by supernatural forces, but comes from within and it is also something that binds
society. Religion and morality is, in his view, a terrible
pair. In order to determine what is right, you have
to use your faculties of reasoning and a high consideration for other people. Before you act on anything, you should ask
yourself: what is the maxim of my action? What is the general rule am I following here? Keep in mind that you need at the same time
to respect the imperative to treat people as ends in themselves and not as merely means. You should not do to others the things you
don’t want to be done to you. For example, if you are planning to steal
something, then you must follow the rule that everybody should be entitled to steal. Then you need to reflect if that would be
a better society…Obviously, this reasoning will lead you to contradictions in this case. Moral actions cannot bring about moral contradictions. If you are to steal something from a shop,
the owner of the shop should have the right to steal something from you too. Therefore, stealing is not universalizable. You are not allowed to make an exception for
yourself in the Kantian world. 6) Never lie
In the words of Kant: “By a lie a man throws away and, as it were, annihilates his dignity
as a man.” From all the immoral things one can do, lying
is one of the things on which Kant put a lot of focus. According to him, you are not allowed to lie
to cover yourself or in any other circumstances, not even in the situations you might save
somebody’s life. Legally, you cannot be blamed for telling
the truth. People cannot really predict the future, nobody
knows if a lie or a truth can save lives in exceptional situations like kidnapping, terrorist
attacks and so on. Imagine a criminal trying to enter a married
couple’s house. If they knock, the wife answers the door and
they inform her they are looking for her husband so they can murder him, the wife has to choose
between telling the truth or a lie. According to Kantian philosophy, if she lies
to cover for him but the criminals catch her husband and kill him anyway, she will be partially
responsible. If she tells the truth they may well find
and kill him more easily than if she had lied, however, because she told the truth she would
not be to blame for his death. Following the same reasoning, you should never
lie, not even to soothe someone’s pain, not even to protect against a harsh reality. It is not your right to hide the truth from
anyone. You cannot know the power of someone to handle
the truth, you are not allowed to take decisions in somebody’s place. For example, if you have bad news to share
with someone, if you did something bad and you fear the judgment of another person may
it be your boss or your spouse, you need to go ahead and tell the news, no matter how
this can affect their judgment of you. Taking responsibility for the mistakes you
made is a sign of a virtuous and morally strong person. 7) Become worthy of happiness
According to Kant: “Morality is not properly the doctrine of how we may make ourselves
happy, but how we may make ourselves worthy of happiness.” Contrary to the US constitution, Kant didn’t
affirm that everybody has the right to happiness, but, instead, they must first become worthy
of happiness, emphasizing the importance of being a moral person, a virtuous person. There are happy people who do not deserve
to be happy as much as there are unhappy people who deserve fully to become happy. Life is a constant struggle between our rational
mind and our emotions. Kant’s concept was to understand how to
strengthen our rational part, our better selves, in order to win out weaknesses and selfishness. There are things we do for moral reasons and
things we do for immoral reasons. Most of the time, whether or not we ought
to do something isn’t really a moral choice – instead, it’s just contingent on our
desires. Like: if you want to have more money, you
try to get another job. If you want a better score in school, you
need to study more. These decisions are all optional and they
do not involve morality. You are free to choose any action you want,
you would not be morally blamed if you choose one thing or another like if you don’t want
any money, then you don’t need another job, if you don’t care about grades, you don’t
need to study so much. What relates to morality are “categorical
imperatives” - imperatives which are true at all times, in all situations. These imperatives you must follow regardless
of your desires. They are moral obligations, derived from “pure
reason”. One of the most important of them is to treat
other people as ends in themselves and not as merely means. If you follow all the categorical imperatives,
then you become worthy to be happy. For example, you do not deserve to have the
professional success and prestige if you are lying to your boss regarding some work details,
to cover your incompetence. You do not deserve to be happy and have a
great family life if you lie to your spouse regarding how you spend the money or where
you have been last night. You do not deserve to be a popular person
if you manipulate your group of friends into thinking you are more successful professionally
than you really are. Always strive to be a moral person, even if
it costs you in life more emotional pain, more time, or more financial troubles. 8) Do not base your morality on religion
In the words of Kant: “Nothing is divine but what is agreeable to reason.” Kant’s family was deeply religious and very
strict. Although he didn’t hold conventional religious
beliefs, he was very aware of how important religion is for social cohesion and for providing
life meaning in face of harsh difficulties. Kant was also a pessimist regarding human
character and he was considering that we are very prone to corruption. It was this awareness that helped him to develop
his life project in philosophy, a new moral philosophy. He wanted to replace religious authority with
an authority built on the foundation of moralistic reasoning. He wanted to do a similar job to what religions
intended to do, but following the ways of reason. Kant said everybody should base their morality
on reason, regardless of religious beliefs - or the lack of them. He saw morality in a mathematical sense. whether you are Christian, Muslim, Hindu,
Buddhist, Jewish or atheist, the same is always true for morality. One should never declare that something is
right or wrong just because your book of faith says so. Moreover, you should never impose on other
people, your imported notions of right and wrong. Instead, try to reach moral conclusions using
your faculties of reasoning, develop your own moral code based on reasoning and on intellectual
discussions with other people. Kant didn’t deny any rights for humans to
have their own faith, himself being a declared Christian, but he emphasized the importance
of being a rational being. 9) Do not let people step on you
As we learn from Kant: “One who makes himself a worm cannot complain afterwards if people
step on him.” You need to be able to see the reflection
of yourself in others and to respect them as you respect yourself. And, to truly respect yourself, you need to
obey the principles of reason, to always be true to yourself and to not harm yourself
or let others violate your boundaries, rights and freedoms. By extension, you need to respect others in
the same way. The lesson is a derivation from the principle
of treating other people and yourself as ends in themselves, and not as merely means. The lesson focuses on avoiding to treat yourself
as merely means. Basically, you should not use yourself to
achieve your goals if by doing this you reduce your humanity and self-respect. No matter what is at stake, it can even be
winning the presidency, but if you have to denigrate yourself, lower your humanity and
self-respect, don’t do it. Don’t treat yourself as less than human,
do not put pressure on yourself which can harm you physically, mentally, emotionally,
no matter what is at stake. For example, do not ask for forgiveness in
front of a manager for something you didn’t do, do not take the blame for a mistake somebody
else did. Always hold your ground and say the truth,
even if it may cost you a job, a relationship, money, time or if it is about somebody else’s
job, relationship, money or time. Never humiliate yourself to make gains in
life for yourself or for somebody you care about. 10) Get busy
In our final slice of wisdom from Kant in this video: “The busier we are, the more
acutely we feel that we live, the more conscious we are of life.” For Kant, it is a moral duty for us to try
to develop our skills, to explore our talents, it is in some ways our duty towards humanity
to give our contributions, no matter how small. Having an organized life is also very important,
it will help us get more done.In this regard, Kant was a very unusual person, he had a fixed
schedule for everything: for over 40 years, he was waking up at the same hour, 5 AM, he
was writing for 3 hours, then he was going to university to teach, he was having his
daily walk at exactly the same time, having dinner with the same friend every evening,
going to sleep at exactly the same time, 10 PM. He lived in the same town for his entire life. This highly organized life probably helped
him in creating such a philosophical masterpiece. To fulfill your potential in this life is
your moral duty towards humanity. Think of all the skills and talents you have,
try to use them in the most efficient way and organize your life around them. Monitor your health, your emotional state
in order to become a highly efficient being. Your time is very precious and learning how
to have better time management skills is extremely important. Make a list of all of the skills and talents
you have, choose very carefully the projects to commit to and organize your time in order
to make them a priority. So, if you enjoyed this video, please do make
sure to check out the full Philosophies for Life channel and for more videos to help you
find success and happiness using ancient philosophical wisdom, don’t forget to subscribe. Thanks so much for watching.
