Download Immanuel Kant

Immanuel Kant
Kant:
Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals
• 18th-Century German philosopher
• Worked on metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics
The Good Will
• Nothing is an unqualified good except a good will
The Good Will
• Nothing is an unqualified good except a good will
• The goodness of the motive or principle is more important than the
consequences
The Good Will
• Nothing is an unqualified good except a good will
• The goodness of the motive or principle is more important than the
consequences
• To have a good will is to do one's duty not out of inclination, but for
the sake of duty.
The Good Will
• Nothing is an unqualified good except a good will
• The goodness of the motive or principle is more important than the
consequences
• To have a good will is to do one's duty not out of inclination, but for
the sake of duty.
• Example: the two shopkeepers
The Good Will
• Nothing is an unqualified good except a good will
• The goodness of the motive or principle is more important than the
consequences
• To have a good will is to do one's duty not out of inclination, but for
the sake of duty.
• Example: the two shopkeepers
• Duty=the necessity of an act done out of respect for the law
• The moral law, not referring to legality
The Good Will
• Nothing is an unqualified good except a good will
• The goodness of the motive or principle is more important than the
consequences
• To have a good will is to do one's duty not out of inclination, but for
the sake of duty.
• Example: the two shopkeepers
• Duty=the necessity of an act done out of respect for the law
• The moral law, not referring to legality
• What is the moral law?
The Moral Law
• Hypothetical and Categorical Imperatives
• Imperatives are commands, or claims about what one ought to do.
• “All imperatives are expressed by a ‘must.’”
The Moral Law
• Hypothetical and Categorical Imperatives
• Imperatives are commands, or claims about what one ought to do.
• “All imperatives are expressed by a ‘must.’”
• Hypothetical Imperatives claim that a possible action is necessary as a
means to the attainment of something one wants.
The Moral Law
• Hypothetical and Categorical Imperatives
• Imperatives are commands, or claims about what one ought to do.
• “All imperatives are expressed by a ‘must.’”
• Hypothetical Imperatives claim that a possible action is necessary as a
means to the attainment of something one wants.
• A Categorical Imperative represents an action as objectively
necessary, without regard to a further end.
The Moral Law
• Hypothetical and Categorical Imperatives
• Imperatives are commands, or claims about what one ought to do.
• “All imperatives are expressed by a ‘must.’”
• Hypothetical Imperatives claim that a possible action is necessary as a
means to the attainment of something one wants.
• A Categorical Imperative represents an action as objectively
necessary, without regard to a further end.
• Kant: Moral requirements derive from a single categorical imperative.
The Categorical Imperative
• The formula of universal law:
“Act only on that maxim which you can at the same time will that it
should become a universal law.”
• “Maxim” = a principle on which one acts.
The Categorical Imperative
• The formula of universal law:
“Act only on that maxim which you can at the same time will that it
should become a universal law.”
• “Maxim” = a principle on which one acts.
• The test is not whether one would want one’s maxim to be a universal
law, but whether it would be consistent to will it to be so.
The Categorical Imperative
• Kant's examples
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A depressed man contemplates suicide.
A man considers making a false promise.
A gifted man considers not developing his talents.
A flourishing man thinks about whether he should help others.
The Categorical Imperative
• Formula of Humanity
“Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own
person or in any other person, always at the same time as an end,
never merely as a means.”
The Categorical Imperative
• Formula of Humanity
“Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own
person or in any other person, always at the same time as an end,
never merely as a means.”
• Kant: This is equivalent to the formula of universal law.
The Categorical Imperative
• Formula of Humanity
“Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own
person or in any other person, always at the same time as an end,
never merely as a means.”
• Kant: This is equivalent to the formula of universal law.
• To violate either is to make an exception of oneself, which involves
acting inconsistently and therefore irrationally.
The Categorical Imperative
• Kingdom of Ends – a conception of seeing others as rational beings
worthy of respect