Quote: "It is our responsibility to develop our talents to the fullest"
Question: Would Immanuel Kant really think that Julliard would be the correct choice for Tiffany?
I feel that Kant wants us to develop our talents, plural. From the beginning of the scenario, you learn that she is a well-rounded, "Marist-like" student. Julliard is the top music/performing arts school in the country, but that is all it is. Up to 50% of students change their majors. If she goes there, she will have very selective choices of a profession because of her degree; she wont have the option of changing her majors. At a State school or a liberal arts college, she better develop her talents as a whole.
I think Kant means we should develop the talents that we are best at, such as playing the piano for Tiffany. Even though I don't agree with this 100%, I believe he would in fact think Julliard would be the correct choice for Tiffany.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. I feel that Kant wants us to develop the talents that we want to develop. Just because a person has a great talent for music doesnt cause a "moral failing" if she decides to develops her business talents.
Delete"in accordance with his own rational reflection about what sort of life he would like to lead and whether he has the powers necessary for it"
http://web.missouri.edu/~johnsonrn/talents.pdf
I was going to pose the same question. Now that I can't I am going to respond to Kent's and the come up with my own question later in the week. I agree with you Kent. I think that she has already developed her talent. It is clear that she is good at the piano. She as accepted into Julliard. But is she goes to Julliard she will neglect her other talents. She won't have as many opportunities to focus on anything but piano. For this reason I think that going to Julliard would be wrong because she has an obligation to further er talents. She already did that for piano so she should go to a school that is not so narrowly focused so she can develop her other talents.
ReplyDeleteKent, I think it sort've depends on how you look at it. But in this case, I disagree with you and Jensen. I think Kant would want her to go to Julliard. Clearly she had a talent like no other. If someone is this gifted, I don't think Kant would want them to go try to find out if they were also a mediocre chess player. He would want them to build upon their already solid base and become the best piano player they could possibly be. If you have the kind of potential Tiffany apparently has, Kant wouldn't want you to be kind of good at a lot of different things. He would want you to hone in on the thing you clearly have a gift for, which in her case is piano.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I disagree with Kant on this topic, I think she should pursue the thing that makes her happy. But I do think he would want her to go to Julliard and stick with the piano.
I agree with you joey, to an extent. I do believe that Kant wanted her to fulfill her piano career because it is her duty to do so. She has an obligation to better society with her talents. And I disagree with Joey, and say that she should go to Julliard. I believe it is our duty to serve society, and this is best accomplished by fulfilling our talents.
DeleteI also agree with Evan. Your best talent should be developed because that is the one you have the greatest chance of being the best for. I guess my question is can you substitute the talent you are best at with the one you love most when considering Kant's opinion?
DeleteI disagree with Joey, you can actually know what her duty is? Her father expects her to go to Julliard, but maybe that's not the best use of her overall talents. She seems to be a people person who has good moral character, so maybe her talents can be best used is to be a politican or a teacher.
DeleteKent, while technically it is true that I (or anybody else) don't know exactly what her duty is, the question makes it pretty clear that piano is her gift. Haha I don't see where you're getting the 'moral character' comment from, considering all we know is that she is good at the piano and wants to go to a state school instead of Julliard. I think in Kant's opinion, you can't use potentiality as an excuse to not nurture the gifts you are given.
DeleteAn example could be any athlete. Take Michael Jordan. Even though he was one of the best athletes of all time, he only played basketball. Even though I'm sure he could've played any sport based on pure athletic ability, he didn't try to become a professional football player or baseball player. He knew he was best suited to play basketball so he put all of his efforts into this.