Is Kant’s nature/freedom dualism clearer in ‘Farewell to the Master’ or ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’? Let’s put this into sections. The first question we should answer is “What was Kant’s nature/freedom duality?” Let’s begin with this: Kant insisted that human thought is inexorably riven by fundamental dualities. There are many of these fundamental dualities he speaks of, but above all, the distinction between practical and theoretical reason. According to Great Thinkers, “It can often look as if Kant thinks that rhetorical reasoning and practical reason constitute 2 separate domains of human thought that cannot possibly be joined in a single system: in theoretical reasoning we use the pure forms of sensibility and understanding, that is our pure intuitions of the structure of space and time on the one hand and the fundamental logical structures of the discursive thoughts on the other, to define the basic laws of a realm that cannot be influenced by our moral conceptions of how things ought to be, while we appeal to pure practical reason to determine how truly free beings ought to relate to themselves and one another regardless of what they actually do. Thus it can seem as if in Kant’s view the realms of nature and freedom, while each possesses its own kind of systematic laws and organization, cannot be joined in a single system.”

The second question that needs answering is “What is ‘Farewell to the Master’?” According to Wikipedia, “‘Farewell to the Master’ is a science fiction short story by American writer Harry Bates. It was first published in the October 1940 issue of Astounding Science Fiction on page 58. It provided the basis of the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still and its 2008 remake.” Here is a very short summary. According to Goodreads, “The famous 1940 short story by Harry Bates that inspired the two movies “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” The humanoid alien Klaatu and the giant robot Gnut suddenly materialize in Washington, D.C., in a time-travel space ship. Two unfathomable beings from somewhere else in the universe. The murder of Klaatu ruins Earth’s attempt to peacefully welcome the first interstellar visitors. And one man tries to solve the mystery of why Gnut remains silent, imperious, and unassailable.“

The next question is “What is ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’?” This is basically just a movie remake of the book ‘Farewell to the Master’. It was made in 1951 and was remade in 2008.

Now for the final question, “Is Kant’s nature/freedom dualism clearer in ‘Farewell to the Master’ or ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’?” In my own opinion, I think that the short story ‘Farewell to the Master’ more clearly explains Kant’s nature/freedom duality. The main point that explains this is the sovereignty of the robot. You see, in the book, the robot is just one of the many robots created to be police robots and were given irrevocable power, built to police outer space and to keep the peace. In the end of the book, the robot is portrayed as “the master” instead of the ‘police-bot’ he was created to be.