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    Moral concepts like 'rational being' and 'autonomy' are t... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→The categorical imperative must be discovered a priori through reason, not through experience.

    Moral concepts like 'rational being' and 'autonomy' are themselves shaped by historically contingent social practices, as Hegel argues in the Phenomenology.

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    Reasons For

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    • 1.Concepts of 'rationality' differ markedly across cultures and historical periods, suggesting they emerge from social practices rather than fixed essences.
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    • 2.Hegel's master-slave dialectic shows autonomy requires recognition from others, proving it is constitutively dependent on social relations.
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    • 3.The criteria for who counts as a 'rational being' have historically excluded women, non-Europeans, and enslaved people, revealing social shaping.
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    Reasons Against

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    • 1.If moral concepts are entirely contingent on social practices, the critique of oppressive practices loses normative force—we cannot condemn slavery as wrong.
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    • 2.Some features of rationality (logical consistency, means-ends reasoning) appear universal across human societies, suggesting non-contingent elements.
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    • 3.Social contingency of concept *expression* doesn't entail contingency of what the concepts *refer to*; oxygen remained oxygen before chemistry named it.
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    Concepts of 'rationality' differ markedly across cultures and historical periods...Hegel's master-slave dialectic shows autonomy requires recognition from others, ...If moral concepts are entirely contingent on social practices, the critique of o...Social contingency of concept *expression* doesn't entail contingency of what th...
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    Some features of rationality (logical consistency, means-ends reasoning) appear ...The categorical imperative must be discovered a priori through reason, not throu...The criteria for who counts as a 'rational being' have historically excluded wom...

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