KANT
GROUNDWORK OF THE METAPHYSICS OF MORALS
APPROACHES TO KANT
● Classic
○ Define Good Will
○ Articulate Principles
● Mine
○ Define Purpose of Kant’s Efforts
■ Agent Centered
■ Respect
○ Define Value Categorization
■ Instrumental Value vs. Intrinsic Value
■ The Good Will
○ Articulate Principles
■ The Imperatives
■ Examples
LIFE LESSONS
● Will you respect me in this class?
○ Ask yourself: Why?
● Typical Candidate Answers:
○ Have authority over you/your grades
○ Reciprocity 3expect to get the same in return
○ Acknowledge accomplishments
○ Default habit (of upbringing)
○ a person
RESPECT
● What is respect?
● Respecting Another (a working definition)
○ view or see another as having a certain status
● Status
○ The nature of a thing in virtue of which it has a value
■ have status is to have value for being in a certain way
○ The place or position of a thing w/in a social context that gauges or tracks its
value
○ Status does so w/o necessarily referencing the thing’s uses or consequences
, ● Acknowledging : awareness of status
○ Typically manifesting in certain behaviors, but not necessarily 3i.e. this is not a
behavioral account of respect
RESPECT (CONT.)
● Fundamentally Outward Attitude
○ Outward: How you see things in the world
○ Inward: How you see yourself
● The Valuing Attitude: to regard others as valuable
○ Not because of the content of another’s status
○ This is not a judgment of how another realizes their status
○ This is to value simply because onehasthat status
● Examples
○ ShellRevisitied
○ Marriage vs. <Tom and Jane=
○ Presidency vs. <President Bush= or <President Obama=
○ Personhood vs. <Lazy Uncle Ed=
VALUE (§395)
● What is Valuable?
○ Alt.Q: What sorts of things do you think are good?
● Common Candidates
○ Talents of Mind (§393): intelligence, wit, judgment
○ Gifts of Fortune: power, riches, honor
○ Virtues of Character (§394): moderation, self-control, calm deliberation
● Are any of these good w/o qualifications?
● Kant’s A: No
○ All these are only good when pressed in the service of something else that is good
■ Kant’s cold & calculating killer (no longer <virtues= of character)
○ Is there anything that is good in itself?
THE MEANS/END DISTINCTION
● Means/End Distinction 3descriptive
○ Ends: purposes, goals, objectives
○ Means: mechanisms to fulfill/achieve purposes
● 1stWay in which the Means/End Distinction Reveals the Metaphysical Source of Value
○ Derivative: X (the means) gets is value fromY (the end)
■ causal account of the origin of value for Xs
○ Values have <a Price= 3the value of something that is exchangeable for some
other equally valuable means
GROUNDWORK OF THE METAPHYSICS OF MORALS
APPROACHES TO KANT
● Classic
○ Define Good Will
○ Articulate Principles
● Mine
○ Define Purpose of Kant’s Efforts
■ Agent Centered
■ Respect
○ Define Value Categorization
■ Instrumental Value vs. Intrinsic Value
■ The Good Will
○ Articulate Principles
■ The Imperatives
■ Examples
LIFE LESSONS
● Will you respect me in this class?
○ Ask yourself: Why?
● Typical Candidate Answers:
○ Have authority over you/your grades
○ Reciprocity 3expect to get the same in return
○ Acknowledge accomplishments
○ Default habit (of upbringing)
○ a person
RESPECT
● What is respect?
● Respecting Another (a working definition)
○ view or see another as having a certain status
● Status
○ The nature of a thing in virtue of which it has a value
■ have status is to have value for being in a certain way
○ The place or position of a thing w/in a social context that gauges or tracks its
value
○ Status does so w/o necessarily referencing the thing’s uses or consequences
, ● Acknowledging : awareness of status
○ Typically manifesting in certain behaviors, but not necessarily 3i.e. this is not a
behavioral account of respect
RESPECT (CONT.)
● Fundamentally Outward Attitude
○ Outward: How you see things in the world
○ Inward: How you see yourself
● The Valuing Attitude: to regard others as valuable
○ Not because of the content of another’s status
○ This is not a judgment of how another realizes their status
○ This is to value simply because onehasthat status
● Examples
○ ShellRevisitied
○ Marriage vs. <Tom and Jane=
○ Presidency vs. <President Bush= or <President Obama=
○ Personhood vs. <Lazy Uncle Ed=
VALUE (§395)
● What is Valuable?
○ Alt.Q: What sorts of things do you think are good?
● Common Candidates
○ Talents of Mind (§393): intelligence, wit, judgment
○ Gifts of Fortune: power, riches, honor
○ Virtues of Character (§394): moderation, self-control, calm deliberation
● Are any of these good w/o qualifications?
● Kant’s A: No
○ All these are only good when pressed in the service of something else that is good
■ Kant’s cold & calculating killer (no longer <virtues= of character)
○ Is there anything that is good in itself?
THE MEANS/END DISTINCTION
● Means/End Distinction 3descriptive
○ Ends: purposes, goals, objectives
○ Means: mechanisms to fulfill/achieve purposes
● 1stWay in which the Means/End Distinction Reveals the Metaphysical Source of Value
○ Derivative: X (the means) gets is value fromY (the end)
■ causal account of the origin of value for Xs
○ Values have <a Price= 3the value of something that is exchangeable for some
other equally valuable means
