Kants Views on Humanity and Reason Essay -- Philosophy

Kant's Views on Humanity and Reason "One can regard the history of the human species, in the large, as the realization of a hidden plan of nature to bring about an internally, and for this purpose, also an externally perfect national constitution, as the sole state in which all of humanity's natural capacities can be developed (36)." Kant is explicit in his notion of human history: for him it is the development toward the telos, the end in which mankind finally exists in a state conducive to its proper development. Specifically, history entails a constant antagonism of man between his desire for total freedom and his need for society, between the necessity of a human master and the moral crisis it represents, and between one society and its neighbors. Personified as Nature, reason embodies the rational undercurrent of reality. Despite Kant's constant use of the feminine pronoun, Nature is not a deity; it represents the fabric of existence and is responsible not only for providing a driving purpose for mankind, but ensuring that the species is equipped to see the purpose ... Kant's Views on Humanity and Reason Essay -- Philosophy Kant's Views on Humanity and Reason "One can regard the history of the human species, in the large, as the realization of a hidden plan of nature to bring about an internally, and for this purpose, also an externally perfect national constitution, as the sole state in which all of humanity's natural capacities can be developed (36)." Kant is explicit in his notion of human history: for him it is the development toward the telos, the end in which mankind finally exists in a state conducive to its proper development. Specifically, history entails a constant antagonism of man between his desire for total freedom and his need for society, between the necessity of a human master and the moral crisis it represents, and between one society and its neighbors. Personified as Nature, reason embodies the rational undercurrent of reality. Despite Kant's constant use of the feminine pronoun, Nature is not a deity; it represents the fabric of existence and is responsible not only for providing a driving purpose for mankind, but ensuring that the species is equipped to see the purpose ...