I would like to put together the main points of two previous posts that I wrote on Kant. The first is that Kant held that we cannot reach truth individually, only the crowd can. The second is Kant's contention that morality is in the (democratic) law.
If we put these two assertions together the conclusion is that what the crowd decides is morally right. Thus, if in one country abortion is made legal in the first ten weeks of pregnancy this is morally right, but if the crowd had decided thirty-six instead of ten weeks that would be morally right as well. If, on the other hand, the crowd decides that gay marriage is to be treated before the law on an equal basis with heterosexual marriage, then both gay and heterosexual marriage are to receive the same moral dignity. It is this morality - Protestant or Kantian morality - which is now penetrating Portugal and is largely responsible for the present state of affairs in the country.
Suppose the crowd decides that the source of all evil in society are the jews. Then, exterminating the jews becomes morally justified. Alternatively, the crowd might decide that the source of evil are not the jews, but the capitalists. Then, expropriating capitalists, even killing them, becomes a moral deed. One should not be surprised that the two most violent ideologies of the twentieth century - communism and nazism - came from the country of Kant.
If we put these two assertions together the conclusion is that what the crowd decides is morally right. Thus, if in one country abortion is made legal in the first ten weeks of pregnancy this is morally right, but if the crowd had decided thirty-six instead of ten weeks that would be morally right as well. If, on the other hand, the crowd decides that gay marriage is to be treated before the law on an equal basis with heterosexual marriage, then both gay and heterosexual marriage are to receive the same moral dignity. It is this morality - Protestant or Kantian morality - which is now penetrating Portugal and is largely responsible for the present state of affairs in the country.
Suppose the crowd decides that the source of all evil in society are the jews. Then, exterminating the jews becomes morally justified. Alternatively, the crowd might decide that the source of evil are not the jews, but the capitalists. Then, expropriating capitalists, even killing them, becomes a moral deed. One should not be surprised that the two most violent ideologies of the twentieth century - communism and nazism - came from the country of Kant.
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