Ground Of Metaphisics Chapter 3

Melix Diaz
GM Chapter 3
03/27/12

I found this chapter is really interesting. Kant says that as rational beings, we have the ability to act through free will. And then he says that a will is freeonly when it follows moral laws and it submits to reason. I think he is saying that we are free not when we do what we want, but instead when we resist our physical needs, our desires. I mean, weall know that our actions can be determined either by our desires and fears or we can demand ourselves to act in accord with “duty”. Would we really be free if we forget about our desires and blindlyfollow the law? I kind of agree with him, if we just follow our drives instead of reason most of the time they are going to lead us to a path that can be no moral. On the other hand, if we just followreason or the law and don't act according to what we want or feel like doing at a certain time, then we would be like robots, we wouldn't be spontaneous, then how can be say that we are free? Kantdescribes the “sensible” world and the intelligible” world. If we lived only in the sensible world, our actions would be directed by law of nature. According to him, if we lived only in theintelligible world, we would posses a perfectly free will. This intelligible should be the primary world for us because in this world the categorical imperative would command our will automatically to follow amaxim. He doesn't really explain how reason can make us free but he does gives us a suggestions as to why we might value freedom so much. He says that moral behaviors make us feel good about ourselvesand make us feel worthy of future happiness but if we feel this way then this shows one more time that we do what we do for the results and not for the sake of duty. In conclusion, we can notexperience freedom because what we experience falls within a material dimension, but whenever we think or act under the idea that we ought to do something we can't help believing that we are free because...