Unpacking Kantian Ethics

If you've had some contact with the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, there's a good chance you found it abstract, heady, and hard to understand. But my guest would say that it's full of rich, usable insights on how to become better people, and, fortunately for us, she's got a true knack for making Kant's wisdom really accessible.

Karen Stohr is a professor of philosophy and the author of Choosing Freedom: A Kantian Guide to Life. Today on the show, she brings Kant's ethical system and categorical imperative down to earth and shares how it can be applied to our everyday lives. We discuss Kant's belief in our great moral potential and duty to improve ourselves, and how his insights can help us make right choices. Karen explains Kant's ideas on the difference between negative and positive freedom, the importance of treating people as ends and not just means, the tension between love and respect, why ingratitude could be considered a "satanic vice," how practicing manners can make us better people, and more.

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Resources Related to the Podcast

• AoM Article: Freedom From…Freedom To
• AoM Article: Practical Wisdom — The Master Virtue
• AoM Article: Via Negativa — Adding to Your Life By Subtracting
• AoM Podcast #292: The Road to Character
• AoM Podcast #421: Why You Need a Philosophical Survival Kit
• AoM Podcast #535: The Problem of Self-Help in a Liquid Age
• Sunday Firesides: Embracing the Coin of Character
• Sunday Firesides: Manners Develop Self-Control (And May Preserve Democracy)
• AoM Article: Are You a Contemptible Person?
• MLK's "Loving Your Enemies" sermon
• On Manners by Karen Stohr
• Oxford's Guides to the Good Life series of books

Connect with Karen Stohr

• Karen's faculty page