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Lecture 13

Lecture 13. Kantian ethics Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). What’s wrong with utilitarianism?. Seeking pleasure is to act heteronomously , according to externally given laws. Rational beings have the capacity to act autonomously , according to laws we give ourselves (freedom).

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Lecture 13

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  1. Lecture 13 Kantian ethics Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

  2. What’s wrong with utilitarianism? Seeking pleasure is to act heteronomously, according to externally given laws. Rational beings have the capacity to act autonomously, according to laws we give ourselves (freedom). Shopkeeper example.

  3. Kantian ethics (‘deontology’) Good intentions: Having a ‘good will’ is ethically more important than the consequences one’s action brings about (non-consequentialist); indeed a good will suffices to confer moral worth on an action.

  4. Imperatives Categorical vs. hypothetical imperatives: Means to ends and ends in themselves. Duty and freedom.

  5. Categorical imperative The right action is that done in accordance with the following principle: Act only upon that maxim which you could wish to be a universal law ‘Maxim’: your reason or principle for acting

  6. Example Promising: is it right to make a promise if I intend to break it? What if I borrowed $50 from you and promised to pay it back although I have no intention of paying you back?

  7. Categorical imperative II Alternative formulation of: ‘Act in such a way that you always treat humanity … as an end and never merely as a means’.

  8. Example 2005: German parliament’s ‘Air Security Law’. 2006: German Constitutional Court annulled the law because it would infringe the right to human dignity.

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