Foundations 102- Division One

Tony Chu
Date

The Declaration of Independence can be looked at in two different dimensions. It begins with the positive dimensions, and ends with the negative dimension. The Argumentative Structure - The Declaration states something positive, then uses it against the negative.

1. (+) Self-evident Truths and Inalienable Rights
   The Declaration claims that originally we were born free and equal under the Laws of Nature and Nature's God. (Deism) It claimed Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness as humans basic rights. (Rousseau pg 24) It is interesting to note here there Property was not included, a fairly Rousseau-like absence.
2. (+) These Rights are secured by the Establishment of a Government.
   Basically, Jefferson is stating that a government's power be derived from the consent of the governed populace. The 56 signatories represented the 13 colonies and the 'good people' of the colonies. The power of the document comes from the people, and by its implication from God. The document appealed to the Divine Judge.
   
   God > Laws of Nature > People > Delegates> The Declaration.
3. (-) The Crimes of King George
   The Declaration outlines the right of the people to dissolve or abolish abusive governments. King George III - "The history of the present King of Great Britain is one of repeated injury and usurpations,

Blacks, natives, women and the poor will come to use this declaration to defend their own rights, lobbying these dreams which, to them, are not yet realized.

Kant has three major works which embodies his philosophies; the Critique of Pure Reason, the Critique of Practical Reason, the Critique of Judgment.

Kant begins his short essay "An Answer.." by using a negative defintion of what he considers Enlightenment.

"Enlightenment is man's emergence from self incurred immaturity." - Kant

Men are purpetually told what to do by their "authorities". Told what to eat, where to sleep, what to buy, and what to believe. This incapablity for decision is immature, and with use of reason Kant believes men can eradicate this behavior. The German word that Kant uses for immaturity means something to the effect of "someone who cannot express themselves."

"Sapere Aude~!" - "Dare to Think"

Kant, in his essay says that people that are members of an institution do not have the freedom to critize it, because it would undermine the institution and lead to chaos. The solider, clergymen, taxpayer are binded by their status (social contract) to do their obligations. Despite this bind, Kant believes public Enlightenment can be achieved.

Kant believes that with the freedom to make public use of one's reason, all people in society will be able to slowly dispel the darkness of human immaturity. Kant dares all of his readers to leave laziness, dependence and fear behind and engage their intelligence. His essay can be viewed as a Declaration of Independence in Thought.

Kant's short essay and the Declaration of Independence are both political representations of an idea. The Declaration was written to represent the colonies' conflicts against the King of Great Britain. The American perspective, however, is very different from the British perspective. The British may well have seen it as an American Mutiny.

Similarly, Kant represent the Enlightenment as "a good thing." However, the same movement can easily be seen by the religious authorities as moving away from the divine truths and Jesus' teachings.

As with ANY story of Intellectual, Social or Political change, there are biases and relevent contextual information outside of the story. Historical context of conflict are very important in these studies.

Kant firmly believes that Religious Submission is the worse kind of human immaturity. People need to think about what they believe in, instead of being spoon feed the text. This attacked Catholic Theology, but form the basis of Liberal Theology.

1. Theism
   The idea of a living God, active in the universe with his will.

As human beings we are incapable of know the true nature of the universe. We can only percieve as the world appears to us.

Only God can know all of nature's truths.

In the Critique of Practical reason, Kant answered "What should we do" but has no good answer as to why. Kant had to abandon reason, appeal to faith in God in order to establish an ethical framework upon which his ethical philosophy is based. His ethical principle is based upon something similar to what is in the Bible.

Kant moves away from the Church's revelational "truth" towards individual, independent explorations.

1. Deism
   The belief in a Supreme Being, "Nature's God" whom set the world in motion, without Divine intervention later on. (Creator of the clockwork, but not a governor.)

Kant's writing marks a paradigm shift from the Religious Age to the Scientific Age.

This is one of the reason Jefferson made sure America had no established church influences.

The main idea in Kant's Critique of Pure Reason is that human beings cannot understand the world as it exists, because representation always gets in the way. (In its purest form. What we see is lightwave energy, what we hear is vibrations in the air. "What is real? If we're talking about we see, hear and touch, then 'real' is nothing more than electrical signals interpreted by our brain."

Kant makes a distinction between the noumenal world and a phenomenal world. The noumenal world is God's world, God's creation as it exists, independent of representation and interpretation. (Or, to take the Matrix terms again, 'The Desert of the Real') The phenomenal world is our 'inner private' (Descartes), it is the world that we know, based in our mind when we interpret what our senses gives us. ('The world as it existed at the end of the twentith century.)

The individual's mind is engaged in the constitution of its own reality. The individual is the basic unit - the autonomous subject.

Kant's definition of Public and Private is very different from ours. By public he means an individual's own exploit. Private he means as a tool of the institution.

The Public use of Reason is Free - A man of Learning writes for the publick to distinguish his thoughts and ideas.

The Private use of Reason is restricted - When a man is a member of an institution, he must use his reason to serve that institution and is therefore unfree to make his opinion known.

"Pay your taxes, write a letter."