Kantian questions....

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Peter Kropotkin
Posts: 1455
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2022 5:11 am

Kantian questions....

Post by Peter Kropotkin »

I have mentioned before about the value of the
Kantian question... the questions that we face right at birth and end
at that last minute of life... among those questions are "What am I to do?"
"What can I know?" ''What can I believe in?" 'What can I hope for?" and there
is a communal aspect to these questions.. "What are we to do?" ''What can
we know?" "What can we believe in?"

For every single Kantian question lies a communal, social question that
entangles everyone within that society...a question for one, is a question for all....
(and if you can't see that, I can't help you)

This question of "What am I to do?" is a personal question and yet, it has
societal implications...I am a social being within a social society... As I cannot
exists outside of society/the state, I must answer my Kantian question, "What am
I to do?" within a society/state narrative...

I cannot act outside of or beyond the confines of the society/state I live in...
to wit, I would probably be better thought of being an ax murderer
than I would be, being anti-capitalists.. or denying American exceptionalism...

For over a thousand years, denying god meant one could face torture or even death..
and we have taken that religious denial into the political realm and accepting
the viewpoint that the economic system of capitalism is the new religion..
All prayer to the new religion, capitalism and pray we receive thy gifts/rewards
payable in the all mighty dollar...going to heaven is so last century, the new religion
favors being paid in dollars and not in blessings from the father...

'What am I to do?" today means what part of the capitalism religion shall I
engage in, Doctor, lawyer, CEO, professional, teacher, worker, producer, consumer....

and soon enough, the wheel will turn and we will pray to new gods,
for in the day, we once prayed to Thor, Odin, RA, Zeus, Yogg-Saron,
Cthulhu... and today, we pray to the new gods, of wealth, money, profits,
the dollar bill and the all mighty Yuan....

''What am I to do?''

Is not an individual question, but a social, community wide answer...
That Kantian question can only be answered with our actions within
a community...''What am I to do within this society/state'' is the
full question I am asking in asking, ''What am I to do?''

Kropotkin
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