¶ … Enlightenment
relates man's freedom to his immaturity, with a special focus on man in relation to society. In "Preface to the Epistle of St. Paul" Martin Luther describes man's freedom in relation to Christian religion. These works not only differ in their content, but are contradictory in meaning, the differences stemming from the fact that Kant places society at the center of freedom while Luther places God at the center.
The first restriction on man's freedom presented is that of the law. However, Kant and Luther treat the law in very different ways. Luther argues that the law is more than just an action, and that one is not lawful unless they follow the law willingly, "His [God's] law must be fulfilled in your heart, and cannot be obeyed if you merely perform certain acts" (Luther 20). Luther's statement shows that there is more to law than merely obeying, the motivation for obeying the law is also important. This is described further saying:
to fulfil the law, we must meet its requirements gladly and lovingly; live virtuous and upright lives without the constraint of the law, and as if neither the law nor it's penalties existed" (Luther 21).
Kant treats the law very differently. While Luther argues that a law is not really obeyed if it is only obeyed for the sake of obeying, Kant argues the opposite. Kant differentiates between what one believes and what one does, making his point by using the example of a soldier obeying an officer: "He must simply obey. But he cannot reasonably be banned from making observations as a man of learning on the errors in the military service, and from submitting these to his public for judgment" (Kant 53).
Here we see what one does is actually less important than what they believe. The main difference in the treatment of laws relates to the focus. Luther is focused on laws as they relate to God, where the individual is the most important factor,.".. God judges according to your inmost convictions" (Luther 20). Kant's focus is quite different with the focus on what the laws...
Luther and Kant: Visions of Freedom Freedom carries so many meanings, both denotations and connotations. Perhaps no concept has been hashed out more by western philosophers throughout the centuries. The ramifications of their arguments are vast: as "free" people, we lean heavily on the concept of freedom, but our laws and court cases constantly struggle to define what exactly we can and cannot do. May we burn the flag, for instance?
Path to the Enlightenment What with the ideological turmoil occurring prior to most of 18th century Western Europe, the Age of Enlightenment was but an inevitable outcome. Religious and political thoughts littered Europe by the spades, and with the foreign revolutions and tensions that led up to questioning both divine right and religious authority. The Reformation, along with the discordant feelings toward the monarchy, became important turning points in history. Instead
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