Expository Essay Topics on KantWhen your undergraduate writing course is titled 'The Metaphysics of Morals' and you are required to write a one-page essay on what you learned, you may be wondering what topics on Kant you will cover. There are, unfortunately, many more topics on Kant than just these one-page essays. In fact, they span over a much longer period of time than the one-page essay.
And, as you delve into your studies of political philosophy, you will come across a lot of such topics. But, let's examine just a few of them: (What I call 'freedom,' or rather 'liberty' - there is a lot more to it, but that's a good start.) Freedom is not a philosophical term for a single concept. It is the general term for the right of an individual to make choices for himself. Liberty can be understood as the right to choose and pursue our happiness in the most informed and responsible way. I don't wish to overemphasize the centrality of this concept in the Metaphysics of Morals because it is so important, and it must be mentioned that it represents a crucial part of our subject's autonomy. The human will must be capable of independent volition and decision making in order to be an autonomous subject. The first principle we must discuss is individual liberty. 'Individual liberty' is meant to be a synonym for 'freedom.' Not, that there is no difference between the two words. Rather, the point here is that both involve the freedom of the will of an individual to be his own master. It is true that the will in the abstract is not free - at least not yet. But, even if one thinks of the concepts as being identical, in practice the volition is sometimes put to an undue exercise. Thus, it may be said that the liberty principle in the Metaphysics of Morals - is simply an extension of the others. The second principle we will discuss is that of the free choice. It is part of the autonomy of the will. It is the ability of the will to choose and pursue its own ends. The principle of the 'freedom to' makes it possible for individuals to fulfill their own ends without interference by others. This is the essence of the principle of the 'freedom to' one might say. It allows the will to act in a way that would not be allowed by another, or someone else's, wills.
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