Kant's Moral Philosophy 

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no notes, no slides, no b.s. Dr. Sugrue, you are one of the most talented orators of our time. Mega cap doff to you sir.

This is not rehearsed- this is pure knowledge and understanding of the topic. In awe!

One of the best lectures yet. It cannot be overstated how important Kant's conception of the Categorical Imperative was towards shaping the world of Ethical Philosophy post-Enlightenment.

Wth what a passionate educator, I wish I saw this 30 years ago. Fantastic delivery really makes the subject come alive. So rare to find this quality of delivery and conciseness. A gem

Rest in peace Prof!😢❤️

This 45 mins lecture simply reveals 1) how deep and clear knowledge and understanding Dr. Sugrue has on Kant’s philosophy 2) how a talented lecturer Dr. Sugrue is. I am in awe of Dr. Sugrue’s ability to understand complexes and convey it with clarity and cheerfully. Thank you very much for sharing this wonderful lecture with the best quality of audio and video.

Amazing, it's incredible how he explains such complex ideas in 45min!

It’s amazing how Prof. Sugrue can take a subject like the Kantiean view of ethics and break it down in a way anyone can understand. Like Einstein once said “If you can’t explain a subject to a six year old then you don’t understand the subject yourself.” I think Professor Sugrue could explain all of these lectures to a class of six year olds and they would completely understand it, sadly I’m still wrapping my mind around the lecture but I understand the importance of Kants view and why we need to apply it in every decision we make. Thank you once again for the lecture Professor.

This man is just so articulated and a sort of genius in dismantling complex , dry , monotonous philosophy for someone who isn't expertise in the field . thanks sir

Your ability to teach is unparalleled to any other teacher I’ve had. Absolutely brilliant. These lectures have had a profound impact on me in the past year.

These lectures are exceptional. Thank you for posting Dr. Sugrue!

This is not just my favorite RU-vid channel but also one of the very few good things in my life. Thank You

8:44 *Kant’s moral inquisition* “Human beings are essentially elaborate soft machines, they’re internal clockworks that do what they do because they have to. Since that’s the nature of the universe as a whole once we adopt Newtonian mechanics as an architectonic perspective on the world-this is what bothers Kant. He says _if we live in an entirely determined world of bodies moving through space well then what does it mean to say that this is a good action or that’s a bad action?_ It simply says that I like this action or that I don’t like that action, it relativizes moral judgment, it subjectivizes moral judgment. It essentially says that there are no moral facts that there are only moral opinions and that the aggregate (the rough generalizations about most moral opinions) are what we call _good_ and _evil_ [...] What it does is relativize and subjectivize ethics, turn moral judgement into what Kant calls, _a wretched anthropology.”_

I’m so grateful for the invention of video cameras without them this man wouldn’t have been able to share his mind with the world. Thank you professor rest easy buddy

Since I started to listen to this type of lectures I feel that I have been robbed of all this knowledge and I just began to open my mind to it.

Did a psychology exam and referenced Kant's moral philosophy. I wish I had seen this earlier. Such a great mind!

A profound lecture when Professor Sugrue does the impossible- he makes Kant easy to understand. My college philosophy teacher told me of his own Professor, back in the day, gave him two pages of Kant to read, and told him to highlight with a marker what he didn't understand. After reading the 2 pages, he told me only one sentence Did Not get highlighted. Now, I have seen frequently for a half year now, viewers praising Prof. Sugrue's lecture on Marcus Aurelius to the skies. Nothing wrong with that. But I have seen NO comment praising his lecture on Kant. This seems to me hypocritical, because Stoicism is premised on the concept of Virtue, and striving after it as a mean of self-respect. While this Kant lecture is the near- ultimate in logically defining the concept of Virtue. So why so few viewers?

Going from this Professor's quality to current "Professors" whose whole semester plan is based in materials provided by the Editorial house (probably never even read the books). I can say the world is definitely improving.

The discussion on intention reminded me of the very first hadith in the Bukhari collection of hadith: "Umar ibn al-Khattab reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Verily, deeds are only with intentions and every person will have only what they intended... "

Dr Sugrue, I want to thank you for uploading these lectures for us to watch for free. They are truly a gift and have impacted my life in such a positive way, so again thank you ❤️

10:55 “The intention of your action is the standard by which we are going to judge it.” Now.. to discern _naive intentions_ and _overt negligence._

Shout out to Dr. Sugrue here for making this content free and accessible, in chat I think an act of following the categorical imperative.

0:28 Philosophy of The Enlightment Reaction to Hume Hume - Good is what pleases me Ethics is just opinion 2:28 Religious Pious Kant, German Protestants, Solemn 3:18 Feelings are different from 1 person to another, FEELINGS VARY, e.g. ETHICS VARY, e.g. RIGHT AND WRONG VARY Kant - ACKT 5:04 _Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals_ 5:40 wishing to become The Newton of Morals The World is 2 World of Sense, Phenomina World of Forms, Pneumina 7:23 What are the Rules of Morals? Newton’s World is Not Free Man Is Machine, Bounced by Force 9:51 Universal Law. TRUE here there EVERYWHERE CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE Good Will 11:01 Departing from Hume Hume cares not about Intention Kant wishes to care about Intention 13:00 Intention has a place in legal penalty 13:44 *Categorical Imperative* 14:07 Reason is a Slave of Passions Reason is an instrument Wants come from elsewhere 15:50 Reason cannot be anything more than an instrument 16:36 Hypothetical Imperative • Specific to you in your specific circumstance If want….Then do…. 17:33 Categorical Imperative Do This, no Ifs or personal wants 18:54 Act so that your action can be Universalized 1. People recognize rules 2. People can improve their morals 20:02 When we do wrong, we want to create exceptions for ME Don’t behave Irrationaly Behave rationally Live up to the rules Maturity, love virtue 24:41 Be More than That Which Desires Responsible Moral Agents 27:27 Politics FROM Morals Leave the state of nature Form the Social Contract

For me this wonderful lecture shows two things 1) a command of the subject matter(no notes or prompts) 2) a genuine passion and love of philosophy. As someone like myself training as a Psychotherapist, I absolutely love all these lectures, they are deeply informative and encourage deeper engagement! Great work sir!

Dr. Sugrue's lectures are absolutely phenomenal! I hope there will be more of your videos soon. Thank you for uploading.

this man is magnificent... to repeat: I feel as if I have struck gold!

I have never been teached like this before.. I had a lot of great teachers but i still needed to do a lot of self study. I understood everything he said in one single watch, very few people teachers can achieve that and that too without opening a single paper. I wonder how much he had to study to reach this point.

I have been watching all the videos for the love of philosophy and this is music to my ears, please upload more of Dr Michaels work.

Just found you channel, professor. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and perspective. You are a great teacher and orator.

Prof. Sugrue --- I love your lectures. I really think that, in the world, there is everything, if we would and will go there. I look forward to returning to this, and listening.

Thank you for this GOLD! Your work is absolutely phenomenal, or rather noumenal (eternal)! Respect 🙏

I've listened to over 20 podcasts on Kant; this is the only one that made his philosophy understandable. Thank you! Thank you for that!

This is probably the best lecture I have ever taken part in. This is genuine and passionate and so very knowledgeable. Excellent teachings. 🙏🏼💯

Oh, boy, is this speaker fantatic and what a relevant topic for us in today’s world! Thank you!

A feast for the eyes and ears ❤️ Hope you are doing well Dr Sugrue!

I have been watching a lot of your videos recently and i must say that not one of them has disapoint me so far, your great at what you do, and i want to thank you for giving us this wonderfull content for free!. Greetings from argentina

I feel privileged to have access to such a lucid and accessible analysis. Thank you for sharing your work.

This channel/lecturer is a gold mine, a treasure trove, of Knowledge.

I think I've seen four of these lectures, so far. Wonderfully taught. I look forward to watching the rest.

Such a pleasure listening to these lectures

Seen a whole lot of these by now. Fantastic lecturer.

I'm so glad I found these videos. What a treasure trove.

Finally! Someone explained the categorical imperative in a way I could understand!

So much information in 43 Minutes. This men's knowledge and articulation skills are very impressive.

6:15 *Kant: Newton of the moral world* “Kant is a metaphysical thinker. What I mean by metaphysical thinker is a thinker that splits the cosmos; splits the world into two parts. This is somewhat analogous to the distinction Plato makes in the _Divided Line,_ between the world of _sense_ and the world of the _forms_ -some world outside of space and time. Kant believes that there’s some similar distinction in ontology-there’s a noumenal world and a phenomenal world.”

I've begun binge watching these lectures as I grow more and more interested in philosophy and morality. Thank you for making this content available to us all.

These lectures are exceptional. Thank you for posting Dr. Sugrue!. Amazing, it's incredible how he explains such complex ideas in 45min!.

Absolutely terrific exposition sir. Thank you very much.

I have truly never seen a teacher as sharp as Dr Sugrue

I am a philosophy professor. This is a damned fine lecture.

Great lecture! The teacher rattles on in difficult vocabulary, but it doesn't matter because he knows what he is talking about, does it captivatingly and transfers the most important knowledge. And that's how you fascinate the audience. Thank you!

I’ve just discovered this channel today. Oh, great joy!

Great content, and one of the few channels I now subscribe to. Dr. Sugrue was a great help to me in both my undergraduate and graduate studies up here in Canada - his 'Plato, Socrates and the Dialogues' Great Courses audio book was on constant play-back for me during those years, but these videos take learning to another level for me.

I am becoming addicted to this channel, it resumes all books I read and thought understood, thank you a million times.

A very excellent overview. Very well done.

Reading up on Kant, the timing couldn't have been better! Thank you

Great explanation of the topic at hand. Understandable by the beginner, too.

This channel really should have more subscribers!!

Fig leaf = Human - So Elegant. WOW. One of your best lectures Dr Sugrue. So much to learn . Incredibly useful.

Your lecture on Marcus Aurelius is one of the best YT vids EVER.

What a gift, this is fantastic...

Great Lecture.. Kant makes me understand Epictetus's Philosophy more Clearly

woow. great lecture. Really loved your presentation.

Impecable presentation!

Incredible stuff. Thank you!

Thanks for all your uploads!

Thank you for posting this lecture.

Terrific lecture. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you Dr. Sugrue

Absolutely brilliant lecture.

The fact that this video is free to watch is just as crazy as how informative it is.

From Germany: What a great, comprehensive lecture of Kant's moral philosophy. Do to your neighbour, what you want him to do to you!

How’s Dr.Sugrue doing now. Want to hear him do atleast a small new video on this channel ..fan from Sri Lanka

Been waiting for this one.. finally out let’s go!!!

extremely clear and really fluent explanation , thanks alot

Oh my teacher! You left us! 😥

Thanks for this clear explanation.

What an amazing lecture.

Maybe it's the nostalgia talking, but I 'member a time when most of the lecture series provided by Great Courses were absolute bangers like this. This man gives one hell of a lecture.

So Kant’s distinction between “hypothetical imperative” and “categorical imperative” is essentially cutting the _IF_ statement off of the hypothetical imperative (if thirsty, then drink). The categorical would be like a “demand from above” right-a sort of divine law/supreme injunction that we must obey.

That was a great presentation, and a I really enjoyed the pace and structure of the lecture, although the sophisticated and precise way he speaks, and his impressive but sometimes although a bit arbitrary and exhausted vocabulary.

Doing A level Philosophy, and this was a fantastic lecture on Kant!

Moral Universality . Two words I take from this lacture... excellent video

thank you soooo much for the upload these lectures are great

a fascinating lecture!

Kants’s achievement seems to be exactly what Dr Sugrue ends on. We choose to believe in the morality and that is Kants vital component, belief. but that doesn’t contradict with Hume’s feeling origin of morals. They are both right. Moral conscience is a question of feeling and belief. They both utilized reason but morality is clearly beyond the limits of reason. If it was then moral laws could be overtly expressed and the “good will” would be defined through intellect. Reason tells you how make moral judgement but not why. Love these videos!

Love the passion.

I am greatful that I can access to this knowledge 🙏🏾

Been waiting for this

Thanks for posting Doc! Philosophy allows us to live a richer fuller life.

" I am reminded of a great German philosopher, Immanuel Kant. He is a specimen of those people who are absolutely in the mind. He lived according to mind so totally that people used to set their watches, whenever they saw Immanuel Kant going to the university. Never - it may rain, it may rain fire, it may rain cats and dogs, it may be utterly cold, snow falling … Whatever the situation, Kant will reach the university at exactly the same time all the year round, even on holidays. Such a fixed, almost mechanical … He would go on holiday at exactly the same time, remain in the university library, which was specially kept open for him, because otherwise what would he do there the whole day? And he was a very prominent, well-known philosopher, and he would leave the university at exactly the same time every day. One day it happened … It had rained and there was too much mud on the way - one of his shoes got stuck in the mud. He did not stop to take the shoe out because that would make him reach the university a few seconds later, and that was impossible. He left the shoe there. He just arrived with one shoe. The students could not believe it. Somebody asked, “What happened to the other shoe?” He said, “It got stuck in the mud, so I left it there, knowing perfectly well nobody is going to steal one shoe. When I return in the evening, then I will pick it up. But I could not have been late.” A woman proposed to him: “I want to be married to you” - a beautiful young woman. Perhaps no woman has ever received such an answer, before or after Immanuel Kant. Either you say, “Yes,” or you say, “No. Excuse me.” Immanuel Kant said, “I will have to do a great deal of research.” The woman asked, “About what?” He said, “I will have to look in all the marriage manuals, all the books concerning marriage, and find out all the pros and cons - whether to marry or not to marry.” The woman could not imagine that this kind of answer had ever been given to any woman before. Even no is acceptable, even yes, although you are getting into a misery, but it is acceptable. But this kind of indifferent attitude towards the woman - he did not say a single sweet word to her. He did not say anything about her beauty, his whole concern was his mind. He had to convince his mind whether or not marriage is logically the right thing. It took him three years. It was really a long search. Day and night he was working on it, and he had found three hundred reasons against marriage and three hundred reasons for marriage. So the problem even after three years was the same. One friend suggested out of compassion, “You wasted three years on this stupid research. In three years you would have experienced all these six hundred, without any research. You should have just said yes to that woman. There was no need to do so much hard work. Three years would have given you all the pros and cons - existentially, experientially.” But Kant said, “I am in a fix. Both are equal, parallel, balanced. There is no way to choose.” The friend suggested, “Of the pros you have forgotten one thing: that whenever there is a chance, it is better to say yes and go through the experience. That is one thing more in favor of the pros. The cons cannot give you any experience, and only experience has any validity.” He understood, it was intellectually right. He immediately went to the woman’s house, knocked on her door. Her old father opened the door and said, “Young man, you are too late. You took too long in your research. My girl is married and has two children.” That was the last thing that was ever heard about his marriage. From then on no woman ever asked him, and he was not the kind of man to ask anybody. He remained unmarried."

My new hobby exploring things I’ve never even thought about it’s so satisfying

"There is nothing easier to improve than other peoples morals."

We wish Plato and Kant's philosophy teachers joined their forces to teach the universal laws of morality not only to university and school students but also to everyone who is interested in the GOOD WILL as a form of FREEDOM! Thank you so much!

My favourite professor.

Thank God I'm seeing this..❤

I love this Professor.

I Kant believe how good this channel is

Superb! I learnt a lot!!