Sunday, July 7, 2013

Nature, Super-Nature, Artifactuality

For Kant, Morality has a Super-Natural source, while for Nietzsche, a Natural one.  However, the practice of Promising, that is exemplary for each, seems peculiarly Human, and, hence, is not easily derivable from elsewhere.  Now, one alternative to Nature and Super-Nature is 'Second Nature', an everyday concept that has been occasionally used to characterize some aspects of Aristotelianism.  However, as primarily denoting acquired habits, that alternative is too restrictive to accommodate the creative processes that produce those habits, or any irregular human experiences.  In contrast, a more comprehensive characterization of the Human sphere is 'Artifactuality', the scope of which is the entire world of human construction, including not only the production of objects, but self- and collective-cultivation, as well.  Thus, the concept of Morality as a principle of Artifactuality is implicit in the status of Promising as exemplary in the doctrines of both Kant and Nietzsche.

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