The eighteenth century in world history is called the time of Enlightenment. It was during this period that great changes occurred in the spiritual, cultural and socio-economic life of Europe. All of them, one way or another, were closely associated with the establishment of a resurgent capitalist system. The new historical era radically changed not only the character, but also the entire content of human life.
Significant changes have occurred in the relations between people. Social institutions have changed. They underwent a review of the relationship between man and nature, as well as his role in historical processes. The rapidly developing life gave a powerful impetus to science, has become one of the most important components of the cultural sphere. At the same time, education has received the status of a measure of social significance and personality culture.
The greatest thinker of the 18th century
In the ethics of the Enlightenment, a special place is given to Immanuel Kant. The works of this major thinker of the 18th century and to this day have a tremendous impact on philosophy. The spiritual situation that developed in the society of that time was characterized by attempts to create a special trend. It was supposed to be an autonomous philosophy, based on only reason and experience.
These tortures have led to a sharpened debate on worldviews. It turned out that if you use only purely logical reasoning and rely on experience, then the conclusion can be both the existence of God and his denial. This approach made it possible with equal success both to prove a thesis and to completely reject it.
Kant's Principles
One of the main achievements of the great thinker is that he was able to separate the issues that concerned theoretical and practical reason. He showed mankind the true path. According to him, the practical mind, indicating to us our duty, does not depend on the theoretical mind and is much wider than it.
At the center of Kantian reasoning is ethics. The thinker pointed out that the social character of human behavior is regulated not only by legal, but also by moral standards. Moreover, these concepts have differences among themselves. They are in the nature of coercion. Legal normativity is distinguished by external coercion on the part of social institutions, other people, and also the state as a whole. The situation is different in morality. Here coercion is possible only internally. It occurs through the recognition of one’s duty by each person.
According to Kant's principles, law is public. Morality in this case is the internal sphere of free and independent choice of personality.
Introducing New Concepts
The most famous work of I. Kant - "Critique of practical reason." This book is devoted to the problems caused by the normative regulation of social behavior. For the first time, new terms were introduced in the work, which the thinker called "imperatives." This concept implies special rules that contain objective coercion to actions of a certain type.
Kant classified all imperatives. This was the result of the allocation of hypothetical and categorical units from them. The thinker gave the basic concepts of these categories.
Hypothetical imperatives
To them, Kant attributed those requirements that are observed as necessary conditions for achieving the goals. So, a hypothetical imperative for a person who is engaged in trade and wants to have regular customers is honesty. Fulfillment of this requirement will undoubtedly attract buyers. The honesty condition for the merchant is a hypothetical imperative. It will allow you to receive the planned income. In this case, hypothetical imperatives are not an end in themselves. This is just a tool to trade successfully.
Hypothetical imperatives, in turn, are divided into the rules of skill and prudence. The first include requirements that require mastering the specific skills that are necessary in trading activities. But the imperative of prudence is a condition of honesty. Moreover, it is not dictated by moral motives. Its source lies in pragmatic considerations.
All the actions that a person carries out under the influence of hypothetical imperatives, Kant relates not to moral, but to legal. They are quite acceptable and approved by society. Moreover, they do not contradict the tasks and interests of the development of civilized relations.
Categorical imperatives
The concept of these requirements is fundamentally different from the hypothetical. The categorical imperative is the fulfillment of a certain kind of conditions. They imply the requirement that a person treat all people only disinterestedly. Moreover, in his relations, he should not see a means of achieving goals, but self-worth, which is absolute and independent. According to Kant, any of us deserves this, since man is an image and likeness of God. In other words, each of us is the highest value on earth.
Unfortunately, categorical imperatives are an ability that nature has not been able to fully empower a person. That is why, in order not to become a slave to our egoism, each of us must constantly remember our moral duty and carry out voluntary self-enforcement. Kant proved that for this a person has all the necessary qualities. Any of us can not only, but must behave in accordance with the terms of the categorical imperative. Moreover, according to the thinker, each of us does not strive for happiness, but for the fulfillment of our moral duty. Gradually advancing along this difficult path, a person falls on the highest steps of spirituality. The reward that awaits him is self-esteem.
Environmental imperatives
The development of society is directly related to natural conditions. A calmer evolutionary period in the development of mankind was observed in those epochs when the environment could be subordinated to its interests. At the same time, people did not think about the consequences of their activities, whether there is a feedback that can make irreversible corrections to their lives.
There have also been crises in the history of mankind, when those opportunities that were acquired during more calm periods of development were completely exhausted. Moreover, the further existence of civilization became possible only with radical changes in the ecological niche, as well as with the new organization of society. Such periods were characterized by great migrations of peoples, a radical change in the structure of civilization, etc.
The environmental danger that lies in wait for humanity is very serious. The elimination of this problem poses quite difficult tasks for society. To continue its history, mankind must necessarily coordinate all types of activities with the needs of nature. Moreover, the development of society should go along the same lines with the development of the biosphere of the earth. This requirement is an environmental imperative. Violation of its conditions threatens disastrous consequences.
