Prompt 4

Megan O’Leary

Mrs. Wilhelmus
 
AP English Language
 
4 August 2013

 

Kant and the Red-Tinted Glasses

    In the “Kant” chapter of Sophie’s World, the German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, was 

introduced. Kant believed there are decisive factors that determine how we perceive the world 

around us. The red-tinted glasses Sophie tries on alter reality, just like human reasoning. In his 

Theory of Ethics, Kant argued that it was not the consequences of actions that make them right or 

wrong, but the motives of the person who carries out the action. The red-tinted glasses experiment 

and the Theory of Ethics contain a new way to perceive things, and I can apply these ideas to issues 

in my own life.
 
    Everything we perceive is affected by our ideas about understanding and reasoning. The way we 

see things may not be how they really are. Our reality may be altered if we think like this, and it is 

just like putting on red-tinted glasses; just because we see the world is red, does not mean it really is. 

Kant explains that we will never get accurate information about things as they really are, because our 

perception taints them. Kant called time and space our two forms of intuition, which is saying time 

and space belong to the human mind. I agree with this, because I believe a person’s way of thinking 

is a habit. Like Kant, I think the world is seen differently by each individual.
 
   Everyday, people struggle in making decisions between what is right and what is wrong. Kant’s 

Theory of Ethics provides a sufficient way to differentiate between right and wrong. To be morally 

right, a person must act from duty or the good within them. Anything morally wrong comes from a 

bad or negative place within. It is not the consequences that determine if a person’s doings are right 

or wrong, but his or her motives. Thinking this way can help me with any inner conflicts that might 

arise.
 
    The questions of perspective in this chapter can help me by allowing me to see things in a new 

light. Sometimes, I feel so certain of the outcome of events in my life only because I am used to 

cause and effect of said events. My reasoning persuades me to skip to conclusions. Using the 

methods and ideas in this chapter, I can take off my “tinted-glasses” and think philosophically. I can 

use Kant’s Theory of Ethics in tough situations to evaluate my motives of a possible bad decision. 

Sometimes people have to make sacrifices for the greater good.
 
    Through Kant’s philosophies, this chapter mainly explained that by thinking differently and not 

assuming the effects of things, my view of the world might be broadened. By using Kant’s ideas, I 

am able to take my tinted glasses off; I must accept that I might never know things as they really are. 

As for making decisions, I can better distinguish between right and wrong by stopping and asking 

myself my intentions.