Moral Culture in Kant’s On Education (1803): Implications and Antitheses

Abstract

The Philippines has been inundated with socio-politico issues that impede people’s desire for the country’s uninterrupted progress. These issues may be complex but their antidote is contrarily simple. An answer is found in Immanuel Kant’s thought on moral culture which pertains to three essential features, namely: obedience, truthfulness, and sociableness. This qualitative research focuses on the fundamental ideas in the section on moral culture in Kant’s On Education. As my contribution to the fund of knowledge, I proceed by establishing the implications and antitheses of the three features of Kant’s moral culture. A discussion on obedience differentiates its two kinds: absolute and voluntary. Absolute obedience is the result of compulsion by a command, while voluntary obedience is the result of confidence by a reasonable will. It is impossible to think of character formation without also thinking of truthfulness. Kant asserts that a man who tells lies has no character. Sociableness emphasizes on the importance of building relationships and friendships. The researcher contends that these three features of moral culture have corresponding antitheses: violation of laws of the land for obedience; lying and dishonesty (highest form is corruption in politics) for truthfulness; and human rights violation (highest form is war) for sociableness. Finally, these features are imperative in forging peace and social order which usher to a kind of development that people aspire.