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History of Ethics

History of Ethics. Section 3 Some Kantian Themes. Kant & Morality. Kant wanted to supply a criterion for morality based on reason alone, & thus on what all rational beings could accept. Kant introduced ‘The Categorical Imperative’ (CI). First Formulation of the CI.

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History of Ethics

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  1. History of Ethics Section 3 Some Kantian Themes

  2. Kant & Morality • Kant wanted to supply a criterion for morality based on reason alone, & thus on what all rational beings could accept. • Kant introduced ‘The Categorical Imperative’ (CI).

  3. First Formulation of the CI • ‘Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law’ (see note 1 [final slide of this Section]).

  4. Universalization • Kant’s universalization (concerning a world in which everyone acts on a proposed maxim) is distinguished from Hare’s universalizability (which requires that like cases be judged alike). • Kant’s first formulation rules out actions of which the maxim (when universalized) involves either a ‘contradiction in concept’ or a ‘contradiction in will’.

  5. To Consider • Distinguish between ‘a contradiction in concept’ and a ‘contradiction in will’.

  6. Problem: First Formulation • Overcomes some objections, but allows many actions to be impermissible under some descriptions (or maxims) but permissible under others.

  7. Second Formulation of the CI • Urges us to treat humanity always as an end but never as a means alone: ‘So act as to treat humanity… in every case at the same time as an end, never as a means only’ (see note 2 [final slide of this Section]). • Bans exploitation; rejects racial discrimination. • Seems to fare better than the first formulation.

  8. To Consider • Think about whether Kant’s advocacy of treating people as ends & never only as means captures or fails to capture the core of morality.

  9. Third Formulation • ‘So act that your will can regard itself at the same time as making universal law through its maxim’ (see note 3 [final slide of this Section]). • Variant: ‘So act as if you were through your maxims a law-making member of a kingdom of ends’ (see note 4 [final slide of this Section]).

  10. Problems: Second and Third Formulations • Similar problems to the first one. • Indifference towards non-human animals. • Cases where someone is treated as a means whatever we do. • Kant’s examples (lying, promises, etc.), seem to work because they turn on human institutions that depend on solidarity. But few other actions (maxims) resemble these.

  11. Final Thought • Kant’s belief that each moral agent has obligations to all others, regardless of their location or community (his cosmopolitanism) is arguably one of his most important contributions to ethics.

  12. References 1. Kant, Immanuel, Groundwork for the Metaphysic of Morals, trans. Thomas K. Abbott, ed. Lara Denis (Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview, 2005), p. 81. 2. Kant, ibid., p. 88. 3. Kant, ibid., pp. 90-92. 4. Kant, ibid., p. 92.

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