The German Genius

cannot forget that the universe is not an object that we can experience in its entirety, but merely an inference —and this produces its own problems. For example, the very concept of a universe implies that it has a boundary. If that is so, what is there beyond this boundary? How then can the universe be infinite? The universe, in other words, is a “contradictory and hence impossible idea.” The same argument applies to time and the ideas of “before” and “after.” Time without end is simply inconceivable; so is an end to time. “Space and time are simply forms of our thought.” 21
    In analogous fashion, for Kant the existence of God can never be proved rationally. God is a notion, our notion, like space and time, and that is all. “ God is not a being outside me, but merely a thought within me .” He was careful not to deny the existence of God—instead he denied our cognition of Him (for which the king reprimanded Kant). God, he argued, can be conceived only through the moral order in the world. Kant thought that humans “are compelled” to believe in God (and immortality), not because any science or insight leads them in that direction but because their minds are built that way.
    E VOLUTION TOWARD M ORALITY
     
    The Critique of Pure Reason is Kant’s most basic work. In the Kritik der praktischen Vernunft ( Critique of Practical Reason ; 1788) he spread himself to examine the “faculty of desire,” morality. He started by conceding that morality may be judged in two ways. On the one hand, an action may be viewed as good if its consequences are good. On the other, an action will be good if it stems from good motives . Complications arise because it is easier to observe the consequences of an action than its motives. More complex still, good intentions may produce disaster, while evil intentions may have beneficial side effects. 22
    Kant’s first step was to eliminate religion and, very largely, psychology from the picture. Goodness, ethical behavior, does not deserve the name if, in performing some action, we expect to benefit personally or in a religious sense, for then such action is selfish and not, in and of itself, good (though good may result). 23 This led Kant to his assertion that “ There is nothing in the world which can be unreservedly regarded as good, except a good will .” But, he immediately asks, how is good will to be recognized? His answer is: duty . What he means by this is: follow your conscience, his famous concept of the “ categorical [absolutely valid] imperative ” (command). The categorical imperative or “inner command” is the voice of the conscience. “Conscience is the awareness of an inner seat of judgement within man,” says Kant. Our internal ethics do not stem from experience, but are inherent in reason, a priori, and have two elements. A person must determine his or her conduct from within him- or herself. And the ethical basis for that is very similar to the biblical injunction: do not give way to “the weather in your soul” do as you would be done by; act as you would wish others to act in equivalent situations. 24
    Again, this was more radical then than it sounds now. Goodness was embodied in justice and “Justice is the limitation of the liberty of each in the interest of the liberty of all, in so far as this can be achieved by a general system of laws.” 25 Greater justice follows from greater self-knowledge and this is where, for Kant, education comes in. For him, the most important difference between man and animals is that man possesses the ability “to set himself aims and goals and to cultivate the raw potentialities of his nature…Behind education is concealed the great Arcanum of the perfection of human nature.” 26
    Kant thought that a central concern of man—maybe the main one—was an “evolution toward morality,” toward the moral character which is guided by good principles. 27 Accordingly, the main elements of education for him were instruction towards obedience , veracity , and sociality . Absolute obedience must be imposed at first, gradually supplanted by voluntary obedience arising from an individual’s personal reflection. Obedience was important to Kant because, he argued, those who have not learned to obey others will be unable to obey themselves, their own convictions. 28 Veracity was, he said, essential for the unity of the personality; people can be whole only if they lack inner contradictions. Sociality ,