Above Are The Stars Inside Is The Moral Law 头顶星空 心怀道德
【Abstract】This paper introduces the philosophy of morality of Kant， mainly analyzing the influence of people’s will on working and living and attaching great importance to the will of human beings.
【Key words】philosophy of morality； human being； will
As a famous philosopher around the world， Kant’s philosophy like his philosophy of morality is well known and studied by people of different times. The most famous motto of kant is ， "In my head are the stars of the sky， in my heart there is a moral law ." The core of Kant’s philosophy of morality is “humanity” in society， so he talks about moral principle， common legislation and rational being as an end itself， meaning nobody is legitimate to take any person as tool. In this way， human becomes the basis of morality. Many things are built on human being himself： To life and to work， all for human being would be our measure of good actions.
Strictly speaking，it is from Kant that humanity began to be noticed.Such questions as： “What can I know？What should I do？What can I expect？”are many philosophers and people who cherish 1ife’s concern.Immanuel Kant enlightened us greatly on this matter. As the greatest philosopher since Plato and Aristotle， Kant’s contributions reached cosmology， metaphysics and his theory of knowledge is also of profound importance because it is in his discussion of problems of morality， ideas of humanity are perfectly manifested in Kant’s eyes， the central questions of morality was to do what we knew was right on grounds of pure reason. Especially in the face of temptations and distractions.
For Kant， the task of philosophy of morality lied in how we could follow these principles that all the people were bonded. As a rational being， people will ask：“What can I do？”and“What should I do？”More importantly， when people consider what he should do，he should also take all the other rational beings into consideration for a moral principle is as valid to one as to any others. Therefore， Kant’ s philosophy of morality focuses on one very crucial rule by examining whether a particular principle can be applied to all rational beings or to take single person as an end itself. This is a slogan showing the fact that any society is human society constituted by people. Only all its members enjoy the benefit can make it reasonable. Now that Kant took human being as prime end， all the other things in the society including social system are tools. If some systems do harm to the development of the society， to the satisfaction of majority’ s needs or to the full improvement of human being， they are sure to be abandoned. What’ s more， human being’ s irreplaceable position as ultimate end allows no one to fool him out of any reason or even worse to destroy him. However， only when the existence of one person threatens that of others can we make it right to punish him. Also， human being as an end was understood by Kant as all people.So all people own the same right，all should be treated as brothers and sisters， all should love and help each Other. Last but not least， to develop one’ s talents， realizing one’ s own value all contribute to Kant’s ideas of morality. When talking about ethics， Kant referred to four kinds of people：（1） A man to kill himself out of weariness of life；（2） A man to borrow money even though knowing his inability to pay it back：（3）A man to give up his chance of improvement in front of comfortable life：（4） A man to neglect others’ hardships. All the above four were doing wrong and quite immoral according to Kant’ s philosophy of morality as it figured out：act as though the maxim of your action were by your will to become a universal 1aw of nature. As a matter of fact， we have almost the same concept in China. Confucian said： “Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you." East or West， ancient or present， theses ideas would not lose their usefulness as guidance in real life.
According to Kant， every being should exist as an end in himself and not merely as a means to be arbitrarily used by will， therefore， whether your own person or that of others should be treated in the same way. As to life，it concerns my life， your life and his or her life as well. To cherish 1ife is one thing as any attempt to destroy one so as to escape from possible burden just uses a person as a means before ending the life. On the contrary， one should think of every means to sustain life as living to 1ife is also one of his ends as human being. Apart from this， our attitude toward 1ife should be positive. So living a 1ife meaningfully， trying your best to make 1ife colorful and better.
The day when human being were created， they were endowed with the capability of maitaining their lives through working， both physically and intellectually. Even today， this remains. What distinguishes it a little here from Kant is that we may bear more responsibility of working for all human being’ s benefit because we are all ends of our own persons. That is to say we should do our work wholeheartedly， be responsible and careful to work， we should also grasp every possible chance to make ourselves and work better rather than regarding work as a task to be finished. Then what is the right attitude？Well， just look it as your passion and cause. 0n the other hand， be ready to fuse into your working team since we are a1l human beings depending on each other for our enjoyment of equal right or benefit， why not be united and helpful to each other？
The rules above may sound easy but difficult to put into practice. Human being is working with mind. So will plays a crucial role in the end.Will is a kind of spirit， an attitude of keeping for different good at different time. As is Kant’s view： Real good lies in will. Will good， and the thing is good.
