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Kantian Moral Theory

Kantian Moral Theory. Ethics – July 24 , 2013. Kant’s Moral Theory. Evaluation of Actions. An action is OBLIGATORY if it is one’s (perfect or imperfect) duty to perform it. An action is FORBIDDEN if it is one’s (perfect) duty not to perform it.

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Kantian Moral Theory

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  1. Kantian Moral Theory Ethics – July 24, 2013

  2. Kant’s Moral Theory

  3. Evaluation of Actions • An action is OBLIGATORY if it is one’s (perfect or imperfect) duty to perform it. • An action is FORBIDDEN if it is one’s (perfect) duty not to perform it. • An action is PERMISSIBLE if there is no (perfect) duty not to perform it.

  4. Evaluation of Things and/or States of Affairs • The only thing that is INTRINSICALLY GOOD is the good will (our willingness to act out of respect for duty). • The only thing that is INTRINSICALLY BAD is a disrepect for the moral law. • Everything else is VALUE-NEUTRAL and derives extrinsic value based on whether or not it is connected to the good will.

  5. Evaluation of Persons • A person is VIRTUOUS insofar as they have character traits that lead them to be “mindful” of duty and the moral law. • A person is VICIOUS insofar as they have character traits that lead them to be disrespectful of the moral law. • A person is MORALLY CHAOTIC if they are morally inconsistent about what duty requires of them.

  6. The Categorical Imperative

  7. Imperatives in General

  8. Four Formulations of the Categorical Imperative • The Natural Law Formulation • The Respect for Humanity Formulation • The Autonomy Formulation • The Kingdom of Ends Formulation

  9. The Natural Law Formulation “Act as if the maxim of your action were to become through your will a universal law of nature.” (Groundwork, Ak. 421)

  10. The Natural Law FormulationExample 1: Suicide • MAXIM: “If I love myself and wish not to experience hardship, I will kill myself out of self-love when its continuation threatens more evil than it promises satisfaction.” • UNIVERSALIZED MAXIM: “As a law of nature (therefore necessary and non-breakable), everyone must kill themselves if they love themselves and wish not to experience the difficulties of life, especially when the difficulties will outweigh satisfaction.” • What happens when this maxim is a law of nature?

  11. The Natural Law FormulationExample 2: Breaking Contracts • MAXIM: “When I believe myself to be in need of money, I will borrow money and promise to pay it back, although I know that I can never do so.” • UNIVERSALIZED MAXIM: “Whenever anyone is in need of money, they must borrow it and promise to pay it back, although they know that they can never do so.” • What happens when this maxim becomes a law of nature?

  12. The Natural Law FormulationExample 3: Not Developing Talents • MAXIM: “If I am in comfortable circumstances and would prefer to indulge in pleasure rather than broaden and improve my natural abilities, I will not work on developing my talents (and bum around instead).” • UNIVERSALIZE MAXIM: “If anyone is in comfortable circumstances and would prefer to indulge in pleasure instead of developing their talents, they must not work on developing their talents.” • What happens when this becomes a law of nature?

  13. The Natural Law FormulationExample 4: Not Helping Others • MAXIM: “If I see someone struggling, I will not help that person (especially if it is inconvenient to do so).” • UNIVERSALIZED MAXIM: “Whenever anyone sees someone struggling, they cannot help that person.” • What happens when this maxim becomes a law of nature?

  14. Examples of Duties

  15. The Universality of Moral Laws “I few now attend to ourselves in any transgression of a duty, we find that we actually do not will that our maxim should become a universal law—because this is impossible for us—but rather that the opposite of this maxim should remain a law universally. We only take the liberty of making an exception to the law for ourselves (or just for this one time) to the advantage of our inclination.” (Groundwork, Ak. 424)

  16. Key Kantian Claims • Human beings are rational beings. • Rational beings seek out and hold to universal principles and laws. • Rational beings accept the fact that universal laws would hold for all rational beings, human or nonhuman. • Rational beings have a special worth called “dignity.”

  17. The Respect for Humanity Formulation “Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of another, always at the same time as an end and never simply as a means.” (Groundwork, Ak. 429)

  18. The Four Examples Revisited • Suicide “uses” the person as a means to get out of difficult situations. • The fraudulent promise to repay “uses” the loaner as a means to obtain money. • Not developing one’s talents disrespects the physical, intellectual, and moral nature of the human person. • Insofar as all rational beings have the same ultimate ends, we respect our own humanity by helping others obtain those ultimate ends (which we also should have).

  19. The Autonomy Formulation “[T]he will of every rational being [is] a will that legislates universal law.” (Groundwork, Ak. 431)

  20. The Kingdom of Ends Formulation “A rational being belongs to the kingdom of ends as a member when he legislates in it universal laws while also being himself subject to these laws. He belongs to it as sovereign, when as legislator he is himself subject to the will of no other.” (Groundwork, Ak. 433)

  21. Autonomy vs. Heteronomy

  22. Freedom as Ethical Principle • “morality . . . follows by merely analyzing the concept of freedom” (Groundwork, Ak. 447) • “freedom belongs universally to the activity of rational beings endowed with a will” (Groundwork, Ak. 448) • “the will of a rational being can be a will of its own only under the idea of freedom, and that such a will must therefore, from a practical point of view, he attributed to all rational beings” (ibid.)

  23. Freedom vs. Determinism “[A] rational being must regard himself qua intelligence . . . as belonging not to the world of sense but to the world of understanding. Therefore he has two standpoints from which he can regard himself and know laws of the use of his powers and hence of all his actions: first, insofar as he belongs to the world of sense subject to laws of nature (heteronomy); secondly, insofar as he belongs to the intelligible world subject to laws which, independent of nature, are not empirical but are founded only on reason.” (Groundwork, Ak. 452)

  24. How Are Categorical Imperatives Possible? • Categorical imperatives (moral principles) bridge the intellectual world (noumenalworld) and the sensible world (phenomenalworld). • We wish that the sensible world matched the intellectual world.

  25. The Meanest Villain “There is no one, not even the meanest villain, provided only that he is otherwise accustomed to the use of reason, who, when presented with examples of honesty of purpose, of steadfastness in following good maxims, and of sympathy and general benevolence (even when involved with great sacrifices of advantages and comfort) does not wish that he might also possess these qualities. Yet he cannot attain these in himself only because of his inclinations and impulses; but at the same time he wishes to be free from such inclinations which are a burden to him.” (Groundwork, Ak. 454)

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