Kant’s ideals, compared to the other philosophers we’ve covered so far, seem to be the most idyllic. While he acknowledges the propensity of humans to err, the other philosophers take it as fact that it is simply a fundamental of reality – Kant philosophizes as if this behavior is a choice, not as if it happens no matter what. He encourages people to “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”. To me, this assertion seems unrealistic but also worthwhile.
The idea of using others for your own gain is nothing new. Beyond happening on a small level, this type of behavior is pervasive, even in the highest level of government. While it’s a nice idea to rid the world of political corruption, as of right now the President of the United States is still holding his position exclusively because he’s taken advantage of his “party supporters” by making them his political scapegoats. Many influential republicans have taken the fall for him to secure his position as president, and as president the only thing he’s done is avoid catching fire for being corrupt. Trump hasn’t done anything for the country – he has only used his presidential power to avoid scandal. In spite of this, he was just acquitted by the senate of impeachment. Clearly, Kant’s philosophy does not realistically represent how things go down, even if it is a much better vision for how humans should interact. I think it’s a good idea to put it down on paper as philosophy, but to blindly ascribe to this system of belief because it seems like utopia is extremely naive.
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2017/08/politics/trump-admin-departures-trnd/
Interesting how you related Kant’s ideas to our government, while you don’t rely with Kant on this specific idea I’m curious as to what you think of the other parts of his philosophy.
When I read, “Taking Advantage on the Highest Level,” I found it interesting how you found Kant’s ideals to be unrealistic and how you touched on Kant’s belief that corrupt human behavior is a choice. This made me think about how Kant’s core ideas help to restore the constitutional and fundamental ideas of freedom and civic dignity, putting Trump’s presidency into question. If Kant were alive today, I believe he would tell Trump that there is no justification or moral goodness in lying and that there is no excuse to lie about his reasoning behind the events leading up to the impeachment.