Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Yes I Can!



Is there a wrong and a right? Kant thought so and referred to such statements as categorial imperatives. Those who are followers of deconstruction might argue that moral judgments are culturally bound, that no one has a monopoly on ethical propriety. It’s a vexing problem since both individuals and groups of people have long histories and emotions which can easily attach themselves to ideologies. In chemistry some elements are volatile with their atoms easily forming compounds while for instance an inert or noble gas like argon doesn’t bond with other elements. You don’t have too many molecules of helium dioxide. A categorical imperative is a little like an inert gas to the extent that it stands all alone, disinterested and freed from the existential narrative and issues faced by those who it ultimately affects. In making esthetic judgments the kind of relativism spawned by a multicultural approach can be difficult. How can a person emanating from one culture write or make critical appraisals of those art works produced by “the other?” It’s all a little like the Tower of Babel which, when it fell, left humans no longer understanding each other. Relativism is a comfortable position to take in that it creates a totally insular universe in which most human beings follow the dictum Voltaire averred in Candide to tend your own garden. Would that life were so simple, that people could recuse themselves from thinking and commenting on each other’s creations (and ways of life). Yes I Can (Make Absolute Statements) by Immanuel Kant.

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