Short Paper 2-Phil The Achievements of the Renaissance

Student’s Name
Course
Instructor
Date
Short Paper 2-Phil
According to the Kantian morality theory, the idea of an action being either wrong or right is considered independent of the consequences but dependent on whether or not the actions enable us fulfill our duties as human beings. This brings in Kant’s Categorical Imperative whereby humans were believed to be under a moral obligation that is unconditional and binding. Considering these facts, Kant is described as an altruistic moralist given his belief that it was morally ideal for people to practice self-sacrifice. Kant’s belief in altruism and his moral philosophy in general put him at loggerheads with other great philosophers like Rand and Nietzsche. The two respectively hold the views that this altruistic morality has negatively affected the Renaissance achievements and is also symptomatic of cultural decline. Overall, Rand’s view is more compelling since it offers a sensible and applicable solution to the issue of morality. The different views on freedom, autonomy and responsibility are the major reasons for both Rand and Nietzsche to reject and oppose the views of Kantian morality.
The leading reason as to why Nietzsche opposes Kant’s view of morality is the fact that Kant’s beliefs about altruistic morality tend to go against nature or naturalism thereby leading to a cultural decline. According to Nietzsche (4), “every sound morality is ruled by a life instinct.” This implies that man’s ability to understand that which he shall or shall not do without the involvement of a supreme being, is what constitutes morality. Kant on his part believes that morality is guided by a supernatural being and is achieved when people give up on their own desires for others. Nietzsche uses the metaphor of Christianity in his work to explain why this view is misguided and opposed to nature and therefore a symptom of a decline in culture. The author points out that, “every morality that has been taught, honored and preached hitherto, is directed precisely against the life-instincts,” (Nietzsche). By stating this, the author implies that morality should come impulsively from a person’s heart and not from the rules and standards set by people or a deity. In this regard, Nietzsche disregards Kant’s altruistic morality since it does not occur naturally to people through instincts but instead has to be taught or preached in order to be learned. According to him therefore, Kant’s views opposes nature. Nietzsche points out that standing by Kant’s morality would be a great injustice against life itself. All these reasons explain why Nietzsche opposes Kant’s view of morality, which believes that human beings are morally obligated to live in a certain definite way unconditionally as stated by a Supreme Being. Apart from the mentioned, Nietzsche also opposes the Kantian morality because moralists tend to create their own image of what they consider the ideal and expect everyone else to follow the same. He rejects this view sin...