Deontology- Kant

Deontology- Kant

The categorical Imperative
1. The Principle of Universability
  1. 'Act only on the maxim that whereby you can at the same time will that it would become a universal law' If you can consitently will that everyone in the same position should do the same thing, then the action is morally right. If not, it is a contradiction and the action is morally wrong.
    1. Kant's example: lying when making a promise. If you are borrowing money and you lie about being able to pay it back, is this universalizable? no.. so it is an immoral action.
2. The Principle of Ends
  1. 'Act as to treat humanity, as an end and never merely as a means to an end.' Humans have intrinsic worth, they should never be explouted for the general good.
3. The Principle of Autonomy
  1. 'Act as if you were, through your maxim, a law-making member of the kingdom of ends.'YOU are the moral authority, not God or antyhing else. You are AUTONOMOUS NOT HETERONOMOUS.
DUTY
1. Morality s not good becayse it brings about soething else (happiness), it is simply good in its own right, and so you should follow it out of duty.
2. DUTY FOR DUTY'S SAKE
  1. NOT CONSEQUENTIALIST
3. Morality is prescriptive; moral statements prescribe a course of action, ought implies can. You ought not save every starving child in Africa, because it ould be impossible to save every single starving child in Africa.
Hypthetical and Categorical Imperatives
1. Hypothetical has a goal, you are doing something to bring about something else. eg, if you revise and work hard, you will do well in your exams. No, you revise and work hard for yyourself, not for examsn. Otherwise it si not moral.
2. The Categorical imperative should be followed even if there is no likely result. 'You should help people' not because, that personw ill gain help and have the good consequences of being helped, but simply because it is moral to help people. NOT CONSEQUENTIALIST
Kant's examples.
1. 1. Universabilized suicide?
  1. "from self-love i adopt it as a principleto shorten my life when its longer duration is likely to rbing about moral evil than satisfaction'- this cannot become a universalizable law of nature as it provides a contradiction: To destory your life when it is your life that feels those feelings is a contradiction. The maxim cannot be universalized and therefore it iswrong for anyone to commit suicide.
2. 2. Honesty, paying back money.
  1. Although it would satifsy the agent, if it were to become a universal law, it would not work. 'Is it right?', no because it cannot be universalized. If everyone were to promise what they please, knowning fulwell that they could not keep that primise, everyehing would become impossibl, as noone would consider that anything was truly prmised to him
3. 3. Don't hide your taeltns
  1. If you have a talent that will make you useful in many respects, but find yourself comfotable and prefer to induldge in pleasyre than the pains in enlarging natural capacty But tthe maxim of neglect of his natural gifts does not coincide with duty. This should not become a universalizable maxim as it makes no sense for people who are good at things to not do them.
4. 4.
Rationlist, you know your duty through use of reason.
Summon Bonum
1. All humans seek an ultimate end, a state in which virtue and happneess are united. This does not happen in this life, so it must happen in the next. We have immortal souls which go to the summpn bonumafter this life. This assumes God, freedom, and the afterife. It provides a placee for morality to be rewarded with virtue.
W.D. Rooss. When two duties comflift: Prima Facie duties: FG

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	Created by natasha.kacove over 10 years ago