Essay - The Greatest Schism Between Early Modern Philosophers David Hume (1711-1776)...

The greatest schism between early modern philosophers David Hume (1711-1776) and Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is derived from their respective conceptions of the good. For Hume, our conception of morality and the good are not to be found solely in reason, but in natural sentiments ***** passions. For Kant, morality, *************** predicated on human agency, cannot have its basis in such natural entities. In the c*****se ***** this paper, I will briefly examine ***** nature of ***** disagreement and argue that Hume presents the most persuasive analysis.

According to Hume, morality is not based on *****. Reason judges matters of fact and relations, ***** *****, which is not an object of reason. When we make moral judgments, we do so always with sentiments ***** blame or approbation at their core. Hence, we find Hume's famous dictum ***** 'reason is, and ought only ***** be, the slave of the passions'. ***** we look for evidence ***** virtue or vice in the natural world, ***** f*****d none; since virtue and vice cannot be ***** of ***** (i.e., there is nothing in a moral claim *****dicating a fact that can be found by the senses). On Hume's view, all there is in a ***** claim is passion. Thus, the morally good is what we ought to do and this is not ***** out by reason.

Accord*****g to Kant, moral judgments express a kind of necessity and of connection with grounds that are not found elsewhere in *****. Human mental faculties are po*****rs; they are neither thing-like nor property-like entities. All our ordinary feelings, desires, ***** ***** belong to our sensible world and are directed at objects ***** states of affairs in this world. We ***** know our feelings and ***** by means of empirical self-consciousness, but we can do nothing about them. They are created by nature and ruled ***** the causality of nature. Morality, however, requires agency or ***** of freedom, and cannot be found in ***** (e.g., nature cannot contain free will). Nonetheless, the noumenon of freedom is a necessary condition ***** the moral law to be created. The ***** law, in turn, ***** a condition for us ***** be able to assume that there is freedom. Unlike Hume, Kant believes that given th***** condition, reason can move ***** ***** act *****.

While there is something attractive in Kant's attempt to make morality a r*****tional requirement ***** is capable of provid*****g to normative force necessary to have agents recognize and seek the good, in my m*****d, Hume's naturalistic moral psychology better aligns with common sense ********** about ***** concept ***** the good ***** why we act morally. While we certainly believe that there is some cognitive aspect ***** our moral judgments (i.e., bel*****fs), we do not tend to believe these cognitive entities are causally efficacious enough ***** explain what occurs when ***** say that an agent acts