MODULE 13 REASON AND WILL What is the will? PDF

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MODULE 13REASON AND WILLLearning ObjectivesAt the end of the topic, students are expected to: a) To understand the meaning of reason and will; b) Compare and contrast the reason and will. c) To apply these two concepts in their daily lives.Learning ContentWhat is Reason? In philosophy, reason, is th...

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MODULE 13 REASON AND WILL

Learning Objectives At the end of the topic, students are expected to: a) To understand the meaning of reason and will; b) Compare and contrast the reason and will. c) To apply these two concepts in their daily lives.

Learning Content What is Reason? In philosophy, reason, is the faculty or process of drawing logical syllogism. Reasoning is the process of drawing out conclusion from the previous knowledge. In other words, reason is associated with knowledge. Knowledge is something that one acquires as he studies, gets matured and professional. The term reason is also used in other context as a disagreement to sensation, perception, feeling, and desire. According to Immanuel Kant, reason is the power of producing into oneness, by means of understandable theories, the concepts that are provided by the intellect or the mind. The foundation of sound ethics for him can only be by the authority of human reason. The voice of God- conscience for St. Thomas Aquinas- is not heard directly today while man is living in this finite world. That reason which gives a priori principles Kant calls “pure reason,” as distinguished from the “practical reason,” which is especially concerned with the performance of actions. The reason elects such and such as morally binding and thus act in accordance with what he/she this is so. Kant told that reason in itself can only be sensible foundation of what is ethical for man. It also reiterated that morality is grounded with external authority but it is simply grounded with reason itself. Kant certainly wanted to delimit the bounds of reason, but this is not the same as arguing that it has no role in our knowledge. There are three points in Kant’ reason: 1. the relation of reason to empirical truth; 2. reason’s role in scientific inquiry; and

3. the positive gains that come from appreciating reason’s limits. In theology, reason, as distinguished from faith, is the human intelligence exercised upon religious truth whether by way of discovery or by way of explanation. The limits within which the reason may be used have been laid down differently in different churches and periods of thought: on the whole, modern Christianity, especially in the Protestant churches, tends to allow to reason a wide field, reserving, however, as the sphere of faith the ultimate (supernatural) truths of theology. What is the will? If the reason is the foundation of what is ethical for Kant, in turn, its source must be a goodwill. This means that what is morally binding is rooted in reason as workable for the human person who possesses the goodwill. A good will is also a force to pursue what one possesses in mind also. Instead of looking at a man as he displays external attributes, goodness is in the very interiority of himself. The good that is relevant to the person who through his/her reason knows what one ought to do. The good will implies the achievability of what is known though reason. Generally, will is a faculty od the mind that at the moment of decision is always present. For him, there is only one good which can be called good without any qualification- the good motive or good will. The true object of reason is to produce a will which is good in itself, since nothing else is always and necessarily good. This will must be autonomous in nature because the will’s autonomy will make a man a dignified one. To lose one’s freewill is to lose one’s dignity. In a nutshell, Reason is the foundation of morality and the source of is the goodwill.

For example, the basis of our actions is our prior knowledge of somethings. The purpose of why we wish to buy rubber shoes is that because we have prior knowledge that rubber shoes is good for sports. To insist and the actual purchase of the rubber shoes, our will pushed us to do so....