Rousseau And Relativism Essay

Prior to the nineteenth century, individuals often linked the concept of evil with God. Thus, when an individual committed a devious act, it was believed that the creator possessed the ability to punish society how he pleased. This ideology lasted until the late 1700’s, when a catastrophic event permanently altered how individuals rationalize. The disastrous event was none other than the Lisbon earthquake. In essence, this incident was a culture shock for people in society, which overturned previous ethics theorist perceived about the universe. During the eighteenth century a movement known as the Enlightenment movement was a pivotal time when scientist such as Galileo and Newton originally redefined the laws of nature. Significantly, this
In his dogma Rousseau clarifies the notion of infatuation with one’s self. In the phase of amour de soi this is where individuals begin to construct communities. However, when God designed the universe he did not expect individuals to build cities. In the stage of amour de soi, Rousseau supports that individuals experience self- preservation which is not detrimental to society. For instance, humans are concerned with keeping themselves alive as well as being compassionate to one another. There is no competition within this stage because individuals are not focused on other’s but themselves. Due to urban communities it spurred economic inequality between the haves and have nots in society. Therefore, the stage of amour propre is instituted where people are self-centered and judge themselves in accordance with other’s in society. According to Rousseau, this is the stage in which man becomes inherently callus and the link between man and God is altered. Furthermore, a key point to understanding Rousseau is to learn that he believed that individuals cannot change the past, but can learn from their mistakes to improve the future through the general will. In essence, Rousseau advocates a hypothetical solution for individuals to escape vanity through the general
Thus, Kant overturned the 21st century ideology of these terms. According to Kant, the term private is defined as individuals conformity to their occupation and public is the way you interact with other’s while creating moral maximums. Within Kant’s theory he does not introduce emotions because Kant wants humans to understand formal rules regarding being a moral man. If an individual obey’s the law he or she is moral unless feelings are involved. In his essay on the Enlightenment, the theorist explains that the purpose of this crucial period was to encourage individuals to liberate their minds. Within Kant’s policy, he outline’s what it means for an individual to be immoral. The first form of malice was the frailty of man, where a person desires to do well but is weak. Another form of evil was where the individual is impure, which is governed by amour proper. Kant defined the next form of devious conduct as radical evil where an individual reverses morality and emotion. While the last form of evil is known as diabolical evil, but Kant does not believe an individual is not malicious enough to undergo this stage. As opposed what Thomas Hobbes claimed that individuals nature was evil, Kant believed that a person cannot be that cruel. Moreover, a primary principle in his theory was known as the transcendental deduction that reveals if man is