Westciv

Monday, November 05, 2007

Kant and Machiavelli

Both Kant and Machiavelli have been brought to life this week-Kant by General Hiller and Machiavelli by President Musharraf. General Hiller spoke up about the war in Afghanistan. He contradicted the government by saying that Canadian troops would be required for some time to come. Kant tells us that in a free and moral society all speech should be free. However he places limits on those who are constrained by their public offices. Enlightenment, he tells us,implies "freedom to make use of ones reason in all matters" (CP 55) . But,he tells us, sometimes we have to make private use of our reason. For example:If I am an official in government that has instituted tax cuts ,can I publicly object to such cuts because I disagree with them. Kant has a complicated formula for dealing with this issue. Is he successful?This issue has been thrashe dout in the press because of General Hiller's remarks, Can he, as a general publicly contradict the government? see this lnkhref<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071102.wcogee02/BNStory/Front/>