Download Kant`s Deontological Ethics

Kant’s Deontological
Ethics
The Plan
 What is Deontology?
 Good Wills and Right Actions
 The Categorical Imperative
 Examples and Applications
What is “Deontology”?
 Deontology: The duty-based approach
to morality.

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The morally right thing to do is whatever it
is your duty to do.
Consequences are irrelevant.
 Compare these attitudes:
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“Let justice be done though the heavens
may fall.”
“The ends justify the means.”
“All’s well that ends well.”
Good Wills and Right Actions
 Kant thinks actions can be wrong in two
ways.

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They can be the wrong thing to do.
They can be done for the wrong reason.
 Three Cases
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Skeletor tortures Man-E-Faces.
He-Man rescues Man-E-Faces so people
will like him.
He-Man rescues Man-E-Faces because it
is right.
When is it Moral?
 According to Kant, what I do is moral if
and only if
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It is the right thing to do, and
I do it because it is right.
But What is the Right Thing to
Do?
 The Categorical Imperative

Formula of the Universal Law
 Act
only that maxim that you can at the
same time will to be a universal law.

Formula of the End in Itself
 Act
always so that you treat humanity, both
in yourself and in others, always as an
end and never as a means only.
Formula of the Universal Law
 Whatever it is right for me to do is my duty.
 But morality is the same for everyone.
 So, whatever it is right for me to do is the same
as what it would be right for anyone to do.
 So, I should always act in a way that I could will
everyone to act.
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I shouldn’t make a moral exception for myself.
The Golden Rule?
Examples: The Formula of the
Universal Law
 Making a Promise You Intend to Break
 Cultivating Your Talents
 Cheating Your Customers
 Killing Your Enemies
The Formula of the End in
Itself
 Only rational beings have value in themselves;
everything else is valuable only for their sake.
 This value demands respect; we should always
acknowledge the value of rational beings as
sources of value.
 Treating someone “merely as a means” fails to
acknowledge their value as a source of value.
 So, we should always treat people as ends,
never as means only.
Examples
 Making a Promise You Intend to Break
 Cheating on Your Income Tax
 Cultivating Your Talents
 Cashing a Check at the Bank
Review
 Kant is a deontologist. He thinks duty is the
central concept of morality.
 Kant believes a person acts morally when she
does the right thing because it is right.
 According to Kant, the Categorical Imperative
tells us the difference between right and wrong.
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Formula of the Universal Law
Formula of the End in Itself