WINSLOW BOY AND IMMANUEL KANT

Victor Bloom MD

The current film, "The Winslow Boy" has been described by various reviewers as just another 'period piece' of 19th century England. They tend to say the characters are 'frozen'; they lack emotion, or exercise undo restraint. And so the movie is dismissed as just another one of those British films about high and mighty attitudes.

Viewing the film myself, I thought it magnificent for many reasons. Simply as a film, the screenplay was by David Mamet, who works a certain magic when it comes to a dramatic production, and it was based on a play by Terence Rattigan, which was ultimately based on a real life story of historic significance.

In the story, the Winslow boy, 14 years of age,bell & ross replica watches was dismissed from the naval academy, accused of theft and forgery. There seemed to be an air-tight case against him, but he insisted that he was innocent and that he was telling the truth. His father believed him and set upon a long, expensive, torture-ridden course of action to clear his name. He took it as his parental responsibility to restore his son to honor, instead of his being cloaked in disgrace for the rest of his life. He wanted to do what was right, even though the odds were impossible, and even though he had to spend a fortune. The Winslows were taking on the Admiralty; there was at the time a principle that no one could do that; it was like questioning the royal prerogative.

Contemporary standards do not show much appreciation for concepts such as honor and courage, character and persistence, ethics and values, great principles. In this film the greatest principle is doing right. If the boy did not steal or commit forgery, it would have been a terrible mistake to have been accused, without having at least a chance to clear his name. There seemed to be no way to acquit him, so a way had to be found. The father and the rest of the family believed the Win_slow boy, and went about the task of getting a trial to clear his name, a process which eventually hit the newspapers, which initially portrayed the boy as a lying, whining brat, who wouldn't take his medicine.

Events occured in which the publicity turned in the opposite direction, and in the end, a historic landmark decision was made. All this was in pursuit of the right, of justice and principle. If we want to remember the time of an idealistic England, we must realize that the British are the basis of our philosophical roots, and they took their values from the bible. Ultimately, a persuasive attorney caused England to change its laws, impossible though that would seem at the time.

But the thrust of the argument was not merely theologic, it was philosophic. The great philosopher, Immanuel Kant, who lived in Germany at the turn of the 19th century, had a profound influence because he disagreed with the skeptic, Hume, who emphasized the deficits in our ability to reason, and the Enlightenment, which had ultimate faith in the unlimited scope of reason. Thereupon, Kant saw fit to examine the basis for morality, which he thought was the highest principle in human life.

Professor H.J. Paton originally published an analysis of the Kant work, called "The Moral Law." What he says in the preface is of utmost importance, if we are to take back basic moral principles which have been largely abandoned in our society.

To quote from Paton, Kant's 'little' book,"which was originally entitled, "Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals," is one of the small books which is truly great: it has exercised on human thought an influence almost ludicrously disproportionate to its size. In moral philosophy it ranks with the Republic" of Plato and the "Ethics" of Aristotle. He went on to say that even above and beyond 2000 years of Christian influence, Kant's philosophy goes even deeper than these."

He goes on to say that its main topic---"the supreme principle of morality--- is of the utmost importance to all who are not indifferent to the struggle of good against evil." Although the analysis was written in 1956, professor Paton foretold that "Kant's message was never more needed than it is at present, when a somewhat arid empiricism is the prevailing fashion of philosophy. An exclusively empirical philosophy (situational ethics?) can have nothing to say about morality: it can only encourage us to be guided by our emotions, or at the best by an enlightened self-love (narcissism), at the very time when the abyss between unregulated impulse or undiluted self-interest and moral principles has been so tragically displaced in practice."

The shocking headlines of the last few years, including political scandals and school shootings force us to realize that ethics and morals, standards and values, must be returned to our society and child-rearing. Both public and parochial schools need to teach a fundamental and reasonable moral philosophy, by word and action, so that our children will grow to be civil, constructive and responsible adults.

Dr Bloom is Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Wayne State University. He welcomes comments and questions at hyperlink and visits to his website: victorbloom.com.