Kantian Ethics
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THE THINKING OF IMMANUEL KANT
Immanuel Kant sought to discover a rational basis for one’s sense of duty, and from this devise a principle by which one can distinguish between right and wrong.
DEONTOLOGOGY
Kantian ethics is deontological – it is concerned with the morality of duty. Kantians are therefore primarily concerned with the means to the end; the intention or motive for action. It opposes the view that the end justifies the means and does not account for the outcome of an action.
ABSOLUTIVITY
Kantian ethics is absolute – the morality of an action takes no regard to the situation it is in. Kant thus subscribes to the belief that morality is universal and prohibitive of actions regardless of circumstance.
INNATE MORAL DUTY
Kant’s starting point for moral philosophy was his observation that we all have experience an innate moral duty – our conscience and feelings of shame and guilt tell us when we violate this. A good action therefore is one that fulfils our sense of moral duty. Kant thus concluded that moral duty can be revealed through reason objectively.
“To act morally is to perform one’s duty, and one’s duty is to obey the innate moral laws”
INCLINATION
Kant posits that we are in constant in battle with our inclination. We should not act out of emotion, such as love or compassion.
OUGHT IMPLIES CAN
It is not our duty to do what is impossible for us to do – moral statements are prescriptive; they prescribe an action. ‘I ought to do x’ implies ‘I can do x.’
STATEMENTS
Kant said there are two types of statement:
• A priori analytic: Statements that are knowable without external research, they contain the predicate within it e.g. ‘1+1=2’
• A posteriori synthetic: Statements are knowable by only by empirical examination – it may be verified or falsified e.g. ‘it’s raining today’
A PRIORI SYNTHETIC
However Kant reasoned that statements about moral law are different, they are a priori synthetic:
? Morality can be known using reason – a priori
? Morality can be verified or falsified – synthetic
GOOD WILL
The highest form of good is good will. To have good will is to perform one’s duty for the sake of duty and for no other reason.
MORAL DUTY
• To fulfill one’s duty is to perform those actions that are morally required and avoid actions that are morally forbidden
• We should perform our duty because it is our duty and for no other reason – duty is intrinsically good.
• We should not act out of emotion, even if duty demanded the same action but the motive for that action was based compassion it would not be a moral action
“A good will is not good because of what it affects or accomplishes… it is good through its willing – that is good in itself”
IMPERATIVES
An imperative is something you are obliged to do. There are two kinds of imperative:
1. Hypothetical imperatives
• Have ‘ifs’ – ‘if you want to pass this course you have to work’
• Have instrumental value
• Conditional
• Are a means to an end – they are not obligatory if the end is not desired
2. Categorical imperatives
• Have no ‘ifs’
• Have intrinsic value
• Unconditional
• Are ends in themselves – their authority does not come from achieving an end
KANT’S CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE
For Kant, the only moral imperatives are categorical. Kant thus devised his own Categorical Imperatives in order to helps us determine which actions are morally obligatory and which are forbidden.
There are three categorical imperatives:
1) The Universal Law
All moral statements should be both universalisable (applied to all people in a situations) and willed to be universalised. If they are not universalisable then they are contradictions in the Law of Nature, and if they cannot be willed to be universalised they are contradictions in the Law of the Will.
“So act that the maxim of your will could always hold at the same time as a principle establishing universal law”
2) Treat humans as ends in themselves
People should always be treated as ends in themselves and not a means in an end
3) Act as though you live in a kingdom of ends
For Kant, all rational agents are able to deduce whether an argument is moral or not through using reason alone. Therefore, all rational humans should be able to conclude the same moral laws.
STRENGTHS
• The categorical imperative does prohibit acts that are commonly seen as immoral such as theft, murder and sexual abuse
• It does not rely on predicting outcomes or happiness and it is rational and certain
• Kant gives Humans intrinsic worth (ends in themselves) promoting equality
WEAKNESSES
• Kant refuses to allow exceptions to a maxim, which is not continuous with modern politics. In war, the sacrifice of the few for the many is sometimes necessary. A morality in which results are left out of account seems detached from reality and impractical.
• The question can be raised: how similar do two moral dilemmas have to be to be covered by the same maxim? It could be argued that everyone in exactly the same situation should be able to do what I now choose to do, even if everyone in slightly different circumstances is precluded from doing so.
• It is very hard to separate reason from emotions such as compassion. Some might argue that emotions play an important part in ethical decision making
• The categorical imperative could be applied from a selfish point of view; for example I could say that it is wrong to steal on the grounds that if everyone stole I would have little hope in retaining what I had just stolen. This self-centred view of morality is counter-intuitive.
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