The Humanness of Hume and Kants Moral Theories Essay

The empirical nature of science has allowed for its success in solving great human problems and in understanding the world around us. Real life data and observations lead to such findings, which only then can be translated into theory. A theory without data is merely a hypothesis waiting to be shown true through observation. If you start with a theory and then try to prove it, you are taking a biased position and setting out to complete an impossible task. Nothing can be proven in science, only accepted until shown otherwise. Immanuel Kant in his Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals and David Hume in his An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals each take a very different approach in establishing their moral theory. Hume bases his†¦show more content†¦Although it may seem like a logical approach, particularly given the teachings of many religions, it has no basis in science or observation. It is so blatantly obvious, that even Kant cannot ignore it and instead must at tempt to write it off. This is a difficult task because it relies on the belief that such a divine quality exists that sets us apart from other animals, an assumption that can only be made from religious doctrine. History gives us many examples of the pitfalls of presenting such a theory and then setting out to prove it, without allowing the possibility of it being false. The Catholic Church was notorious for supporting only scientific theories in accordance with the bible and suppressing ideas presented that conflicted with religious truth. This is very much like what Kant has done. He accepts something as true and then painstakingly works to prove it without allowing for the possibility of its falsehood. The ability of humans for pure reason is not an observed scientific truth, but instead an idealistic theory created to set us apart from our animal counterparts. It is easy to argue that our brain functions are more complex in many ways than other species. However to simply state that because of this we possess the ability to take actions