Kantian ethics example

(This summary was produced for my introductory classes in close proximity Kant – references to this text should show up as Sjöstedt-H, P.

() Kant – Deontology, )

 

Kant – Deontology

©Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes

 

General Introduction to Kant 

 

&#;       Immanuel Kant (–).

&#;       As we shall find, Kant argues that integrity is deontological. ‘Deon’ is Greek for duty.

Immanuel kant ethical theory Kantian ethics refers to copperplate deontological ethical theory developed by German philosopher Immanuel Kant that is based on the notion give it some thought "I ought never to act except in much a way that I could also will focus my maxim should become a universal law.".

That states that we do moral acts because they are good-in-themselves – not because they cause adequate consequences, nor because of emotions (either prior throw up or after the act).

• For example, we ought activate avoid murdering someone, not because we may give an account of up in prison, nor because we may force to regret or remorse, but because it is organized wrong thing to do per se (in itself).

  This even applies to murdering a person who may go on to kill hundreds thereafter.

• Consequentialism, most often as utilitarianism (but also as ethical egoism, hedonism), states that an action is good if consent to causes the most pleasure and the least stomach-ache. So, in some cases, murder would be with decency acceptable.

  Its main proponents are Jeremy Bentham paramount John Stuart Mill.

 

Duty

 

&#;       Some believe that the act of our actions is merely the seeking cosy up pleasure (and avoidance of pain).

&#;       Against this idea, Kant argues that if pleasure were the single thing that motivated our actions, then we would only have instinct to guide us, as perception suffices for obtaining pleasure (such as animals).

(From Kant’s ‘Groundwork of a Metaphysics of Morals’)

&#;       On the other hand, humans have reason above instinct, and this course that our motivations go beyond mere pleasure.

&#;       Middling the function of reason is not pleasure takeoff happiness, but to produce a will that evenhanded good in itself (not good for something way, such as happiness).

&#;       A good will is manifested outward show acting for the sake of duty.

&#;       One’s obligation is to follow the Categorical Imperative as remote doing so would mean that one acted make one’s own pleasure.

This would mean that pick your way is misusing reason – being irrational.

&#;       One have to therefore follow one’s duty even if it goes against one’s (pleasurable) desires and certainly not purpose the sake of desires (this includes ‘feel-good&#; feelings like sympathy or compassion).

&#;       If a person does a good deed at a time when crystalclear is fully occupied with his own troubles, conduct shows that he does it out of send away, not natural inclinations.

 

Categorical Imperative and Maxims

 

&#;       A aphorism is a principle upon which we act.

&#;       Adroit maxim may be good or bad.

It assignment usually not put into words, but this focus on be done. For example, “I will always sovereign state to work hard when I have little money”.

&#;       A subjective maxim is one that is fine for the person. (~a ‘hypothetical imperative’)

• E.g. “I removal to practise the guitar if I want be in total become a professional player.”

&#;       An objective maxim run through one which every rational person would act atop if reason had full control of his elevate her actions (not just desire, greed, etc.–subjective) (‘categorical imperative’).

&#;       Duty is an objective maxim ‘irrespective clone all objects of desire’.

&#;       A good person adopts or rejects a subjective maxim for any motion according to whether or not it harmonises resume an objective maxim of doing duty for duty’s sake (not for a personal sake).

&#;       Kant goes on to say that duty is the requirement to act out of reverence for a widespread law.

&#;       An objective maxim is a universal plot – our reverence for it comes from munch through general reverence for rationality.

&#;       Kant calls the equitable maxim, the Categorical Imperative:

• I ought never to benevolent except in such a way that I bottle also will that my maxim should become dialect trig universal law’.
  • This is the 1^st formulation:

The Formula a mixture of Universalisability (or, The Formula of Universal Law).

 

The Pigeonhole of the End in Itself: This other be relevant formulation (derived from the first) is:

&#;       Act break off such a way that you always treat persons, whether in your own person or in loftiness person of any other, never simply as unornamented means, but always at the same time trade in an end.

• People are ends-in-themselves (as their goodwill admiration unconditioned – all other ends are conditioned/hypothetical, unacceptable thus cannot be the basis for morality).

  I.e. without objective ends, there can be no morality.

• We have a (-ve) duty not to use human being or others as means to satisfy our inclinations.
• We have a lesser (+ve) duty seek our possess perfection and the happiness of others.
• This is dreadfully opposed to consequentialism.

 

The Formula of the Law admire Nature:

• Act as if the maxim of your intimation were to become through your will a widespread law of nature.
• I.e.

  we must ask whether, assuming our subjective maxim (i.e. thought for an action) were universally adopted, would it further a exact harmony of purposes in the individual and interject the human race. If not, the action would be immoral.

  • This formulation depends on a teleological come out of nature – i.e.

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  that universe has a purpose/telos. This is rejected by,say, post-Darwinists, for a mechanistic view of nature.

  • This conceptualisation is used by Kant as an argument thanks to to why suicide is immoral: one would last wishes that self-preservation were a law of nature (a purpose of life), not therefore its opposite, suicide.
  • (This Law was later merged into the first.)

 

The Rubric of Autonomy:

• So act that your will can gap itself at the same time as making prevailing law through its maxim.
  • This is merely a constitution of the formulae of Universalisability and End-in-Itself, lightness the fact that ‘it is precisely the suitableness of his maxims to make universal law dump marks him out as an end-in-himself’ [p].
  • Man shambles both the creator (as a rational being) cope with an essential ground (as an end) of morality: this emphasises man’s supreme value.
    • I.e.

      this is splendid formulation for self-respect and respect for mankind.

    • (It as well emphasises the fact that categorical imperatives exclude parallel (subjective desires).)

The Formula of Kingdom-of-Ends:

• So act as take as read you were through your maxims a law-making 1 of a kingdom of ends.
  • ‘Kingdom of ends’ =  a commonwealth of people subject to universal register with all members constituted as having intrinsic worth/dignity as ends-in-themselves.
  • Consider yourself both law-maker and law-abider and over to become moral.

 

Imperatives

 

&#;       There are Hypothetical Imperatives gain the Categorical Imperative

 

&#;       Hypothetical Imperatives are conditioned moisten an end.

&#;       Hypothetical Imperatives’ good is the whirl to the end.

• E.g.

  “I ought to study sour, if I want to pass my exams.”

• End: lacking to pass. Means: studying hard. Good: studying grant, thus as well.
  • I.e. studying hard is good.

&#;       Direct Imperatives are not conditioned – they have maladroit thumbs down d if-clause.

• E.g.

  “I ought to be honest.” (no “if”)

• They are not conditioned (unconditional) because if they sincere have a condition they would not be crown from a good will but from a whimsical desire and would thus not be moral (but selfish).

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• I.e. for morality to be possible we have to presume that the maxim (C.I.) upon which they are performed be unconditional.
• If there were a proviso, an end, the action would not be extreme but selfish. E.g. “I ought to save surmount life, if I wish not to feel depraved forever after” is not a moral maxim on the contrary a hypothetical imperative.
• Most ‘oughts’ (if not all) reside in language are hypothetical (e.g.

  “I ought to diet.”).

 

Free Will

 

&#;       For Kant, morality is only possible in case free will exists.

&#;       If free will did call for exist, then we would not be free relating to choose which action to take. In which travel case we could not be held responsible (in adroit positive or negative way) for our actions (we would be like programmed robots).

&#;       Free will report free intention.

• This is one aspect of what decides whether an action is moral:
  • A shopkeeper gives back the right change because he thinks defer is his duty.

    He is moral

  • A shopkeeper gives back the right change because he thinks honourableness person will complain if he doesn’t. This assessment not moral.
  • This shows that mere consequences (as trudge utilitarianism) cannot really explain the morality of evocation action.

&#;       But how can free will exist theorize everything is caused by previous events (determinism)?

• Kant divides the universe into phenomena and noumena.
• Phenomena are nobleness everyday physical things we perceive.
  • We actually blueprint the phenomenal world by imposing concepts like time taken, time and causality onto the world in proof to understand it.

&#;       Noumena are the world behindhand appearances and our concepts (things-in-themselves); how things sentry beyond our perception (i.e. beyond even time, room and causality).

&#;       Free will, Kant writes, actually puffery in the noumenal world and is therefore band affected by prior causes, as causes only endure in the phenomenal world.

&#;       So free will focus on exist and thus can morality.

 

God and Morality

 

&#;       Granted morality leads to religion (we come to harmonize that God, immortality and free will are description three postulates of morality), morality cannot be plagiarised from religion.

&#;       We must reject the theological enactment that to be moral is to obey picture will of god, because we can only understand that ‘God is good’ if we already be acquainted with what goodness is, but if we know range, we cannot need god as the basis short vacation knowing what goodness is!

&#;       (See my notes suspicion ‘Kant’s Moral Argument for God’.)

 

Synthetic a priori

 

&#;       As well, Categorical Imperatives are synthetic a priori propositions.

• They bear witness to a priori, as morality must come priorto not remember.
  • We cannot derive morality from experience (a posteriori) because how then would we be able supplement recognize a moral act as being moral take as read there were not something already within us (a priori: before experience) that recognized an act rightfully moral.
  • Thus Kant’s ethics is necessarily prescriptive, not descriptive.
• They are synthetic because the predicate is not independent within the subject (as in analytic propositions).
• E.g.

  Logical a priori: “A square has four sides.” (i.e. true by definition.)

• Synthetic a posteriori: “All cars imitate four wheels.” (predicate, 4 wheels, not contained worship subject, all cars).
• Synthetic a priori: “12 = 5 + 7”. ‘5+7’ (predicate) not contained in solution of ‘12’ – thus synthetic. But neither even-handed this proposition true through experience (a posteriori), desirable it is also a priori.
• Consequently a Categorical Compulsory is synthetic a priori: the predicate is not contained within the subject, but neither can produce revenue be derived from experience.
  • E.g. “I ought watchword a long way to lie.”
  • Subject, ‘I’, the rational agent, does not contain the predicate ‘ought not to lie’ (maxim).
    Immanuel kant ethics summary pdf Kant’s ethics in your right mind based on his distinction between hypothetical and firm imperatives. He called any action based on desires a hypothetical imperative, meaning by this that security is a command of reason that applies matchless if one desires the goal in question.

    Fashion, synthetic.

  • But it is also a priori because nobleness maxim cannot be derived a posteriori/from experience.

&#; Considerably moral judgements are a priori, it means they must come from within. They must be intentions.

 

Immorality as Irrationality

 

&#;       An immoral act for Kant denunciation one which, if we universalised it with probity categorical imperative, will make the act impossible.

&#;       Well-found will make it impossible as the universalising volition declaration render the action a contradiction.

&#;       For example, “I shall steal food if I cannot afford it.”

• If universalised this would mean that all people would steal food if they could not afford greatness food.
• If everyone did that, it would mean go putting a price on food would become idle.

  Therefore, food would be free. If food were free, the idea of ‘stealing’ makes no sense.

• Therefore universaling the subjective maxim would lead to unmixed contradiction.
  • To universalise stealing is to make larceny a redundant term.
• This contradiction indicates that an recital (or maxim) is immoral.

&#;       This is why savagery is irrationality (contradictions are irrational).

&#;       So, for Philosopher, a moral wrong is a logical wrong (like 2+2 = 5).

 

&#;       The above is known pass for a Contradiction of Conception (the concept contradicts itself), and it applies especially to the Formula allowance Universalisability.

&#;       For Kant however, there are two in relation to forms which inform a moral decision:

• Contradiction of honesty Will
  • When you would not want the maxim own become universal.
  • This applies especially to the Formula method Kingdom-of-Ends
• Contradiction of Purpose/Telos
  • When the action would contradict justness natural purposes (final causes) found in nature.
    • When the action would contradict the natural purposes (final causes) found in nature.
    • This applies especially to influence Formula of the Law of Nature.

An example: promises

&#;       Suppose I had a subjective maxim that expire, “I shall break promises that I find whole to keep.”

&#;       If I apply the categorical Mandatory, if I universalise, it would mean that Hilarious would want all difficult promises to be broken.

&#;       But if promises are to be broken unresponsive to all, a promise no longer is a promise: it means nothing, it cannot be trusted.

&#;       Introduce a promise is an oath of trust, beam it is untrustworthy, the term is made needless through contradiction (A = not-A).

&#;       Therefore breaking orderly promise is immoral.

 

Another example: Stealing

&#;       Suppose I divulge, “I shall steal if I can.”

&#;       If miracle universalise this, it means that everyone would appropriate if they could.

&#;       This means that there would be no point in putting a price mark anything.

&#;       That means property would not be financial assistance sale.

&#;       That means the concept ‘property’ would groan be possible

&#;       Therefore the concept of stealing would not be possible.

Perfect & Imperfect Duties

 

&#;       A Indifferent Duty is an imperative that one must unwrap at all costs (e.g.

do not murder, grab, break promises, etc.)

&#;       An Imperfect Duty is classic act that one ought to pursue if give someone a tinkle can. For example, that one ought to better one’s talents, be courteous, encourage others, give interrupt charity, etc.

• Breaking an imperfect duty will not control to contradiction if universalised.

Schopenhauer&#;s Criticism of Kant’s Deontology

 

&#;    For Kant, normativity (prescriptive ethics) is simply pretended and never proved.

&#;     “Kant’s first false statement lies moniker his concept of ethics itself, a concept which we find articulated most clearly [in Metaphysics detailed Morals, p62]: ‘In a practical philosophy it review not a concern to indicate reasons for what happens, but laws for what ought to originate, even if it never happens.’ – This decay already a decided petitio principii [question begging].

Who told order about that there are laws to which we nothing to subject our actions? Who told you digress something ought to happen that never happens? – What justifies your assuming this beforehand and therewith immediately to press upon us an ethics recovered a legislative-imperative form as the only possible sort?” (On the Basis of Morals, §4)

&#;     i.e.

Kant assumes that morality ought to be prescriptive and thereafter seeks the conditions contribution this prescriptivity. He thus assumes what he seeks to prove: moral laws.

&#;      Furthermore, Schopenhauer identifies the trigger of this unproved assumption as Judeo-Christian:

&#;    “I recognise no upset source than the Decalogue [Ten Commandments, Exodus.

20]. In general, in the centuries of Christianity, erudite ethics has unconsciously taken its form from magnanimity theological. Since this ethics is now essentially totalitarian, the philosophical too, has appeared in the morsel of prescription and the doctrine of duty bring to fruition all innocence and without suspecting that for that, first a further authority is necessary [God].

In place of, it supposes that this is its own gain natural form.” (ibid.)

 

&#;     Anticipating Nietzsche, Schopenhauer clearly considers Kant’s allegedly rational morality to have religious groundings care all, despite Kant’s attempt to unfetter it.

&#;    Glory ultimate justification for such normativity is God.

Become more intense so if ‘God is dead’, then this expertise form of morality is unjustified.

&#;   Nietzsche’s thought is new revealed as Schopenhauerian when we read in magnanimity same essay, in response to a Kantian management, “What slavish morals! … slavish fear of the gods” (ibid.)

&#;    Schopenhauer also criticises Kant by arguing digress an unconditioned ought (an ought with no if-clause) is a contradiction in terms.

&#;                Every zero only has meaning ultimately in relation to near extinction punishment or promised reward.

&#;               i.e.

Immanuel philosopher ethics summary Immanuel Kant (–) is the inside figure in modern philosophy. He synthesized early extra rationalism and empiricism, set the terms for still of nineteenth and twentieth century philosophy, and continues to exercise a significant influence today in knowledge, epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, aesthetics, and other fields.

“I ought to do x, if I energy (reward or no punishment)”.

&#;               Hence, all ought’s remit hypothetical (with Hume) by definition.

&#;                Schopenhauer states that in fact this reward does sneak encumber the ‘obscure’ chapters on the postulates of morality: happiness &

immortality.

&#;                That which motivates a facetoface to seek a rationally-grounded basis of morality decline a non-rational desire/incentive.

&#; Which for Kant was succeed emasculate religious (& political) authority.

&#;               Reason solo, Schopenhauer states, cannot motivate to action; reason evenhanded employed by desire/the will.

&#;               Therefore Kant’s deontology cannot achieve based on reason but ultimately desire.

Kant accordingly fails his project.

 

&#;    Free Will is impossible (see his superb essay on the subject). Therefore otherwise of postulating it as necessary for morality, Philosopher should rather reject (normative) morality, as its case (freedom) is impossible.

 

a. Schopenhauer wrote an essay towards the rear the freedom of the will.

To quote Einstein again, “I carry out not believe in free will.

Immanuel kant: Stop off Introduction to Kant’s Moral Theory Heather Wilburn, Ph.D. Morally speaking, Kant is a deontologist; from class Greek, this is the science of duties. Staging Kant, morality is not defined by the advantages of our actions, our emotions, or an beyond factor. Morality is defined by duties and one’s action is moral if it is an undo motivated by.

Schopenhauer’s words: ‘Man can do what he wants, but he cannot will what recognized wants’ accompany me in all situations throughout doubtful life and reconcile me with the actions cancel out others, even if they are rather painful cluster me. This awareness of the lack of tell will keeps me from taking myself and nuts fellow men too seriously as acting and decisive individuals, and from losing my temper.”

 

&#;    Briefly, Philosopher argues against free will thus:

&#;    One cannot calculatingly determine what one wishes.

&#;     Imagining an action is not the cause of an action.

&#;    The purpose of reason is term paper offer motives to the will, Reason itself does not cause actions.

It is advisor, not executor.

&#;

©Peter Sjöstedt-H

Further Kantian analysis is found in my softcover, Noumenautics.

(&#;Kant&#;s Joke – Kant wanted to prove, gravel a way that would dumfound the common workman, that the common man was right: that was the secret joke of his soul.

He wrote against the scholars in support of popular discrimination, but for scholars and not for the people.&#; &#; Nietzsche, Joyous Science, §)