Kant: "necessitation through sensuous impulses"

Forums:
Email this Topic • Print this Page

What is "necessitation through sensuous impulses"? For example?

I'd try one, not sure whether it is on the right track:

What we feel is a necessity which ought to be satisfied. Otherwise, we would feel unhappy, thus more or less losing our freedom. That is, such dependence hurts our freedom.

Thanks in anticipation.

Context:

Quote:

Idea of freedom

In the Critique of Pure Reason,[85] Kant distinguishes between the transcendental idea of freedom, which as a psychological concept is "mainly empirical" and refers to "the question whether we must admit a power of spontaneously beginning a series of successive things or states" as a real ground of necessity in regard to causality,[86] and the practical concept of freedom as the independence of our will from the "coercion" or "necessitation through sensuous impulses". Kant finds it a source of difficulty that the practical idea of freedom is founded on the transcendental idea of freedom,[87] but for the sake of practical interests uses the practical meaning, taking "no account of... its transcendental meaning," which he feels was properly "disposed of" in the Third Antinomy, and as an element in the question of the freedom of the will is for philosophy "a real stumbling-block" that has "embarrassed speculative reason".[86]

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Question • Score: 0 • Views: 433 • Replies: 5

No top replies

View best answer, chosen by oristarA

Are all English experts of A2K gone?

0 Replies

How romantic!
Peace is golden since one one disturbs. Very Happy

0 Replies

Because Kant's idea is not easy to understand, some people, in order to gloss over their inability, click it to Negative.

0 Replies

@oristarA,

Most people on here either don't have the background knowledge to answer this question or don't want to do your homework for you. Hasn't your professor given you instruction on how to answer the questions he gives you? Perhaps you should actually read the text from which the quote comes, because what you've posted here is some random's summary of Kant's words. Unless your teacher asked you to read this, I'm not sure that looking at this person's possible manipulation of Kant's words is the way to arrive at an accurate answer.

Given that I haven't read the Critique of Pure Reason, if I were to guess on this matter, I'd say that, based completely on my understanding of this:

Quote:

and the practical concept of freedom as the independence of our will from the "coercion" or "necessitation through sensuous impulses".

"Necessitation through serious impulses" refers to the natural desires people have, which are succumbed to when they don't have control of themselves and instead allow nature's laws (?) to drive them. To be free, I think, in this sense at least, people must govern themselves.

My answer could very well be wrong. I'd encourage you to ask your professor and read more extensively, probably something Kant wrote.

1 Reply

@perennialloner,

Kant's work was written two hundred years ago. So the original work of his is quite hard to read and translate for us today.

0 Replies

Forums
» Kant: "necessitation through sensuous impulses"

Read Question
Reply to All

Kant: "necessitation through sensuous impulses"

Quick Links

My Account

able2know