PHIL 209 Unit 2 - Kneller and Schopenhauer (copy)

Kneller, Schopenhauer's system (only the beginning of his stuff)

This quote represents what idea: “As the production in a rational being of ‘an aptitude for purposes generally’, Kant says that culture in human beings is characterized by ‘the more refined feelings’ of sociability (a ‘fitness and propensity’ for society), and by decorum.” (p.180)?

Kneller’s point that women and taste civilize men and promote culture, but don’t instill morality.

Explain: women have an affinity for culture, and can use these skills to prepare men for morality without being directly connected to morality. (this idea stems from the viewpoint that women are naturally weaker in rational capacity).

This quote represents what idea: “Feminine ways...and taste thus both exhibit the ability to promote culture and “prepare” men for morality without being necessarily connected to morality.” (p.180)?

Kneller’s point that women and taste civilize men and promote culture, but don’t instill morality.

Explain: Women and taste are connected because neither is principled enough to order and shape experience - taste prepares the way to morality and women lead men to morality. Femininity and taste require discipline in society, to repress the chaos they bring.

This quote represents what idea: “So just as women need to be disciplined by being ‘feminized’, imagination for Kant must be disciplined if it is to serve nature’s purpose and become ‘tasteful’.” (p. 184)?

Kneller’s point that femininity and taste are both the result of a certain kind of discipline carried out by rationality.

Explain: Taste and femininity are the results of a control of imagination and of the female by higher cognitive faculties/rational powers. Women are disciplined through marriage, where they are compartmentalized in feminine roles, as opposed to letting “natural instincts” go untethered. he compares this dynamic as “inclination reigns and understanding rules”. Taste and femininity ONLY rise in society when these disciplines are utilized.

This quote represents what idea: “Given Kant’s account of the properly feminine woman and the properly disciplined, “tasteful” imagination, it is understandable that he bans both from entering the moral and political realm. Children and “wild things” are not in a position to responsible shape moral and political reality…this is simply to say…that the notion of femininity in his philosophy is severely misguided.” (pp. 185-186) ?

Kneller’s point that women and the imagination therefore are barred from contributing morally and politically. They are ornaments that may have an indirect influence on politics/morality, but they cannot shape those spheres - only rationality can.

Explain: Femininity and imagination are both seen as “wild things”, which are in no position to responsibly shape moral and political reality. Women have no actual substance/worth in what they contribute to society beyond decorum/sociability skills —> their role is to decorate the aesthetic aspects of social life. Femininity and imagination both undergo a kind of domestication.

(women couldn’t enter the public sphere without wreaking havoc, and imagination could never produce anything of value without the constraints of understanding).

what is Kneller’s main point?

Kant undervalues both imagination and women, because he associates them with sensibility, which he considers inferior to understanding (i.e. rationality).

Kneller’s first point is that both women and taste “civilize” men and promote culture, but they don’t instill morality in them. what does this mean?

women are able to prepare men for morality through cultural practices (sociability/decorum), and taste only determines the formal properties of an object (aka only outward appearances), without considering empirical/moral truth. they both are kind of the stepping stones for morality, but they lack the depth required of moral virtue. taste and femininity are not principled enough by themselves to order/shape experience.

how does kant explain women’s role in society?

women and their femininity are well-skilled in sociability and decorum, and can influence men to become “well-mannered”

why are women unable to participate in moral practices?

taste/femininity isn’t principled enough to order and shape experience aka moral virtue

kneller's 2nd point is that on Kant’s view, femininity and taste are both the result of a certain kind of discipline carried out by rationality. what does this mean?

women and taste are both disciplined and controlled by rational powers/cognitive faculties. kant says that one party must subject to the other, and in judgments of taste, imagination = the docile wife in marriage b/c understanding governs/sets its boundaries. unfettered imagination/womanhood are domesticated by a masculine understanding.

how are women connected to sensibility?

genetically, because they give birth, they are connected to the physical in a way men aren’t

how are women disciplined by men?

marital relations; women are subject to men in marriage

inclination ___ and understanding ____

reigns, governs

kneller’s 3rd point is that women and the imagination therefore are barred from contributing morally and politically. They are ornaments that may have an indirect influence on politics and morality, but they cannot shape those spheres - only rationality can do that shaping. What does this mean?

women and imagination are considered “wild” and without substance; because women are associated with inclination, they are less rational than men and thus require male guardianship. the relationship is similar with the imagination and the understanding.

how is kant’s view of the relationship between men and women similar to that of the imagination by the understanding?

understanding and men are both rational powers used to control the wild, untethered nature of the imagination and women. The former provide constraints that are needed in order to give the latter substance.

how is taste separate from cognition and morality?

taste is only “universally communicable” as long as it does not determine topics of serious matter like cognition and morality, because beauty is only a symbol, not a schema (a universally communicable, but intellectual and sensible connection)

According to Schopenhauer, how do we construct the world of appearances?

with our mental activity

T/F - things-in-themselves are not different from the world of appearances for Schopenhauer.

false, there is a distinction.

How can we know things-in-themselves?

through introspection

what is the world of appearances called?

representation

what is the world of things-in-themselves called?

Will

how would Will be described in Schopenhauers theory?

Wild, chaotic, directionless, equivalent to a washing machine.

Will first channels itself where?

the world of platonic ideals

what are platonic ideals?

they are the universal versions of the individual, everyday objects we perceive in the world of representation

what cognitive faculties from Kant’s theory are similar to Platonic ideals?

imagination and understanding

Platonic ideals + (space + time) = ?

representation

T/F can you perceive will outside of yourself?

F, you can only conceptualize the outward experiences of objects, but you can perceive will in yourself

What world in schopenhauers system is comparable to templates/pattens for will to filter into?

the world of representation

what does Schopenhauer say is the only way to find peace?

through aesthetic attitude (b/c one can view life without the distorting influences of will)

according to Schopenhauer, are you still suffering once you fulfill a desire?

yes, because another desire comes up after.