‘Is Kantian ethics too abstract to be useful in moral
decision making?’
Kantian ethics is far too abstract to be useful for moral decision making as
the principles behind it have no foundation in reality and cannot be
practically applied in actual situations.
PARAGRAPH 1
The noumenal world is not actually reachable, it exists beyond
human cognition placing morality here creates a barrier and makes
it extremely difficult to apply practically
Furthermore, if we base morality there, our own perception (the
phenomenal) gets in the way of understanding morality truly
Humans’ ability to reason is flawed, as seen in Kant’s own
comments on women, so how can we ever know if the conclusion
we have reached is correct?
Only being able to access ‘true morality’ through a flawed
perception of what is real is far too disconnected from reality to
base real-life decisions on
The noumenal world is what objectively is, it is beyond human
comprehension and exists outside of what we perceive
This is where morality lies, it can be reasoned towards but never
properly accessed but when a maxim is established it is easy to
follow and can be properly applied to the real world
This makes decision making easy, as maxims must be simple and
easy to follow
EVAL: This is not how Kant’s theory should be applied, you must
reason to a maxim every individual time, the fact that the only way
to make the theory pragmatic is to use it incorrectly shows how
unhelpful it is
PARAGRAPH 2
Synthetic a priori reasoning: Like geometry that is true
necessarily but also provide new information
The process of reasoning provides more than simply the
rational/good will, it provides the concept of duty
decision making?’
Kantian ethics is far too abstract to be useful for moral decision making as
the principles behind it have no foundation in reality and cannot be
practically applied in actual situations.
PARAGRAPH 1
The noumenal world is not actually reachable, it exists beyond
human cognition placing morality here creates a barrier and makes
it extremely difficult to apply practically
Furthermore, if we base morality there, our own perception (the
phenomenal) gets in the way of understanding morality truly
Humans’ ability to reason is flawed, as seen in Kant’s own
comments on women, so how can we ever know if the conclusion
we have reached is correct?
Only being able to access ‘true morality’ through a flawed
perception of what is real is far too disconnected from reality to
base real-life decisions on
The noumenal world is what objectively is, it is beyond human
comprehension and exists outside of what we perceive
This is where morality lies, it can be reasoned towards but never
properly accessed but when a maxim is established it is easy to
follow and can be properly applied to the real world
This makes decision making easy, as maxims must be simple and
easy to follow
EVAL: This is not how Kant’s theory should be applied, you must
reason to a maxim every individual time, the fact that the only way
to make the theory pragmatic is to use it incorrectly shows how
unhelpful it is
PARAGRAPH 2
Synthetic a priori reasoning: Like geometry that is true
necessarily but also provide new information
The process of reasoning provides more than simply the
rational/good will, it provides the concept of duty
