Kant's Choosing Freedom Chapter 1-5

 Okay, better late than never. I finished this book maybe last month in the middle of May or end of April. I wish I could remember. I am typing this in sections because it's ALOT and I want to ensure that each categorical imperative deserves respect and a spotlight. Like before, I am typing up notes that I wrote from parts of the book I underlined, commented added post it notes. 

• Kant believes in to a live a morally good life is to live within reason. 
• Deliberative perspective: a pre meditated plan (ex. sitting in a chair)
• Positive freedom: to have positive freedom is to be capable of acting for specifically moral reasons. (when we make choices within rational principles)
• Determinism: a philosophical and scientific view that all events including human actions are inevitably caused by proceeding factors
• NOT LETTING DESIRES CHOOSE ACTIONS = FREEDOM
• Whether or not we ought to do something is based on our desires
• Self Love can turn into self conceit without boundaries and morality is what sets them. Morality does not just set some limits for self conceit. Self Conceit arises from a desire to raise ourselves above other people. 
• KANT'S MORAL SYSTEM IS GROUNDED ON THE IDEA THAT RATIONAL BEINGS ARE EQUALS. 
• Categorical Imperative: commands you must follow regardless of your desires
• Moral obligations: are achieved from pure reason
• Aristotle: moral judgement ͢ practical wisdom ͢sound judgement about what to do (complex virtue)
• Categorical imperative on a moral idea already have; expresses the way in which a fully rational being thinking about actions
• FIRST FORMULATION: UNIVERSAL LAW FORMULATION: what is the maxim/reason of our actions. Obligatory on the grounds it comes from reason. 
  Kant has two different imperatives (hypothetical and categorical imperative); Hypothetical (if/then) and categorical imperative (do X)
• Reason tells you and I are equals 
• Categorical imperative expressing what mostly good people already know what to do already 
• Kant uses the universal law formulation to show why four maxims cannot be universalized: suicide; lying; never helping anyone in need; never reaching full potential.  Lying takes away someone's rational ability to make some decisions. Never helping anyone (Kant does not want to live in a world where people do not help eachother) 
• Two different type of contradictions: perfect duty: one must always do.imperfect duty: is a duty which one must no ignore but admits of multiple means of fulfillment. 
• Universal law formulation: is the necessity of seeing ourselves as the moral equals of other rational beings. 

I posted this and now I am editing it b/c I was in class and wanted to pay attention to my classmate's presentation. 

I think these first chapters took me a while to grasp and understand in my own words. I reread a couple of chapters in the latter half of the book because I wanted to understand it. I am going to wait until the end of the book to say if I think his philosophy or ideas align with what I want to believe in or what I want to strive to. 

I will not end this off with a quote but with my usual: "Be kind to yourselves and others."