Dillon Precious Kantianism
Key Words:
A Priori – innate knowledge.
Synthetic - the truth can only be determined by experience.
Analytic - something that is true through definition.
Deontological - whether the act is ethically justifiable.
Summum Bonum – the highest or greatest good.
Categorical Imperative – commands you must follow, regardless of your desires.
Universality - the quality of being shared by all people or things in the world.
Duty – a moral or legal obligation.
Good Will – the will to do the right thing.
Intrinsically Good – something that is good within itself.
Absolute – it treats every situation equally, therefore there is no exception.
Deontological Theory – concerned with actions and whether it is right or wrong and not the
outcome / consequences.
Kant Summary:
Reason:
o Good Will.
o Duty.
o Moral Principles.
Immanuel Kant (1723-1804):
Three most important ethical ideas:
o Human Reason.
o Individual freedom and autonomy.
o Duty.
A German philosopher and has been described as “one of the greatest thinkers of all time.”
He stood as a part of the European Enlightenment – the attempt to get beyond authority
and superstition and deal with the world based on human reason, and a part of the
Copernican Revolution.
o Copernican Revolution – just as Copernicus discovered that the Earth rotates
around the Sun, rather than vice versa, Kant argued that we experience the world as
we do because that is the way our sense function. We do not know things as they
are in themselves but only as they appear to us.
Born into a privileged family, was deeply religious, and lived in Konigsberg, in East Prussia,
and stayed there for his whole life.
18th century Germany – Prussian Wars, Holy Roman Empire, Enlightened Absolutism.
A sense of moral obligation:
o Like Aristotle, Kant believed that knowledge begins with experience. He was
influenced by science and the gathering and assessment of empirical evidence.
o Like Plato, Kant defines human nature in term of reason and the freedom that
reason makes possible.
o He resisted Aristotle’s rigid definition of what it means to be fulfilled and the
detailed laws that hinge on that definition.
, Dillon Precious Kantianism
Utilitarian Ethics: Deontological Ethics:
Consequentialist ethics. Rule bases ethics.
Cases by case basis. One universal rule for each situation.
Outcome based. “All times, all places, all people.”
Hypothetical Imperative (“what if?”) Categorical Imperative.
Happiness matters (Greatest Happiness Must be consistent, universal, and
Principle) reversible.
Less consistent over time. Happiness is irrelevant.
Outcomes and results of ethical Based on using reason to generate
outcomes are hard to predict. maxims.
Duty, obligation, and good will are also
foundational.
Hypothetical Vs Categorical:
The Categorical Imperative is to act for the sake of duty only. Whereas the Hypothetical
Imperative is acting to receive reward.
Kant argues that the Categorical Imperative is the only “good” way to act.
For example, one should help an old lady across the road simply because it is the good
thing to do, not because it will make you feel good.
Even if a good act makes you feel good, this is not a reward, it is a bonus, according to
Kant.
The Hypothetical Imperative:
Hypothetical Imperatives are not moral commands, because they do not apply to
everyone. They depend on personal motive / desire.
You only need to obey them if you want to achieve a certain “goal” – a hypothetical
imperative always starts with an “if.”
o E.g., if you want to get an A*, you need to revise .
A Hypothetical Imperative depends on the results and aims at personal well-being.
The Categorical Imperative:
Categorical Imperatives are moral commands, and do not begin with an “if.”
They tell everyone what to do and do not depend on anything, especially desires or
goals.
They apply to everyone because they are based on objective absolute law of reason.
For example:
o Stealing, if we could just help ourselves to whatever we wanted, the idea of
“owning” things would disappear, but then no one would be able to steal.
“Everyone must admit that a law, if it is to be [legitimately binding] has to carry absolute
necessity with it…” Kant, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals.
It enables us to resolve conflicts of duty when they emerge.
Three Forms of the Categorical Imperative:
Key Words:
A Priori – innate knowledge.
Synthetic - the truth can only be determined by experience.
Analytic - something that is true through definition.
Deontological - whether the act is ethically justifiable.
Summum Bonum – the highest or greatest good.
Categorical Imperative – commands you must follow, regardless of your desires.
Universality - the quality of being shared by all people or things in the world.
Duty – a moral or legal obligation.
Good Will – the will to do the right thing.
Intrinsically Good – something that is good within itself.
Absolute – it treats every situation equally, therefore there is no exception.
Deontological Theory – concerned with actions and whether it is right or wrong and not the
outcome / consequences.
Kant Summary:
Reason:
o Good Will.
o Duty.
o Moral Principles.
Immanuel Kant (1723-1804):
Three most important ethical ideas:
o Human Reason.
o Individual freedom and autonomy.
o Duty.
A German philosopher and has been described as “one of the greatest thinkers of all time.”
He stood as a part of the European Enlightenment – the attempt to get beyond authority
and superstition and deal with the world based on human reason, and a part of the
Copernican Revolution.
o Copernican Revolution – just as Copernicus discovered that the Earth rotates
around the Sun, rather than vice versa, Kant argued that we experience the world as
we do because that is the way our sense function. We do not know things as they
are in themselves but only as they appear to us.
Born into a privileged family, was deeply religious, and lived in Konigsberg, in East Prussia,
and stayed there for his whole life.
18th century Germany – Prussian Wars, Holy Roman Empire, Enlightened Absolutism.
A sense of moral obligation:
o Like Aristotle, Kant believed that knowledge begins with experience. He was
influenced by science and the gathering and assessment of empirical evidence.
o Like Plato, Kant defines human nature in term of reason and the freedom that
reason makes possible.
o He resisted Aristotle’s rigid definition of what it means to be fulfilled and the
detailed laws that hinge on that definition.
, Dillon Precious Kantianism
Utilitarian Ethics: Deontological Ethics:
Consequentialist ethics. Rule bases ethics.
Cases by case basis. One universal rule for each situation.
Outcome based. “All times, all places, all people.”
Hypothetical Imperative (“what if?”) Categorical Imperative.
Happiness matters (Greatest Happiness Must be consistent, universal, and
Principle) reversible.
Less consistent over time. Happiness is irrelevant.
Outcomes and results of ethical Based on using reason to generate
outcomes are hard to predict. maxims.
Duty, obligation, and good will are also
foundational.
Hypothetical Vs Categorical:
The Categorical Imperative is to act for the sake of duty only. Whereas the Hypothetical
Imperative is acting to receive reward.
Kant argues that the Categorical Imperative is the only “good” way to act.
For example, one should help an old lady across the road simply because it is the good
thing to do, not because it will make you feel good.
Even if a good act makes you feel good, this is not a reward, it is a bonus, according to
Kant.
The Hypothetical Imperative:
Hypothetical Imperatives are not moral commands, because they do not apply to
everyone. They depend on personal motive / desire.
You only need to obey them if you want to achieve a certain “goal” – a hypothetical
imperative always starts with an “if.”
o E.g., if you want to get an A*, you need to revise .
A Hypothetical Imperative depends on the results and aims at personal well-being.
The Categorical Imperative:
Categorical Imperatives are moral commands, and do not begin with an “if.”
They tell everyone what to do and do not depend on anything, especially desires or
goals.
They apply to everyone because they are based on objective absolute law of reason.
For example:
o Stealing, if we could just help ourselves to whatever we wanted, the idea of
“owning” things would disappear, but then no one would be able to steal.
“Everyone must admit that a law, if it is to be [legitimately binding] has to carry absolute
necessity with it…” Kant, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals.
It enables us to resolve conflicts of duty when they emerge.
Three Forms of the Categorical Imperative:
