Kantian Ethics

1. Kantian Ethics The Moral Philosophy of Immanuel Kant The Ethics of Duty and Reason

2. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) • German philosopher • Concerned with duty and reason • Believed that the intentions behind an action were more important than the consequences. • We cannot predict the consequences so we cannot judge a person good or bad based on the consequences of their actions.

3. A Deontological Theory • Deon = duty (Greek). • A theory based on our duty or our obligation to do something. • This is an approach to ethics that focuses on the rightness or wrongness of actions themselves, as opposed to the rightness or wrongness of the consequences of those actions

4. Good will • All good moral acts must be grounded in good will. • Good will indicates that the act was carried out with the best of intentions. • Good will indicates a good action not because ultimately the consequences are good but because the intention is good in itself.

5. Reason • Good Will can only result from the proper use of reason • We must eliminate our own desires and needs from the decision and make it in everyone’s best interests • Do not follow gut instincts, they undermine rational thinking.

6. Duty • A moral person is one who acts from a sense of duty and not from what we personally would like to do. • Acting morally amounts to doing our duty regardless of what consequences may follow, even for ourselves.

7. The Categorical Imperative • This is a method based on practical reasoning. • An imperative is an instruction or rule we can work out using our reason • A hypothetical imperative or instruction would compel action in a given circumstance: If I wish to satisfy my thirst, then I must drink something. • A categorical imperative would suggest an absolute, unconditional requirement that exerts its authority in all circumstances. • It is best known in its first formulation: • "Act only according to that maxim (rule) whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law."

8. Universalisability • This is another word for the categorical Imperative. • It means that we should analyse our choice and ask would it still be a good act if every person on earth were to do it. • It is an a priori argument, meaning that you do not have to experience the action to understand it.

9. The Main Imperatives Kant's three significant formulations of the categorical imperative are: • Act only according to that maxim by which you can also will that it would become a universal law. • Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end. • Act as though you were, through your maxims, a law-making member of a kingdom of ends. • We must also respect all others and see people as the purpose of actions not as a means of achieving something.