Kantian Ethics

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Kantian Ethics
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Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

• German philosopher
• Key texts
• Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (1785)
• Critique of Practical Reason (1788)
• The Metaphysics of Morals (1797)

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Kants theory is deontological

deotological theories
Concerned with actions, not consequences
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Kant argued that

• Morality is a matter of following absolute rules
• These rules should not be based on religious
  faith but on reason
• Morality is a matter of doing ones duty
• We should not be side-tracked by feelings and
  emotions
• We should not act out of love or compassion
• We can only do our duty when we are able to act
• Ought implies can

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The
Hypothetical imperative

• Often we use the word ought in a non-moral way
• e.g. if I want to become an opera singer I ought
  to practise
• We have a wish and to help fulfil this wish we
  follow a course of action

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In contrast, Kant said that moral obligations are
categorical
Categorical imperative

• You ought to do something regardless of
  your wishes and desires
• Your reason tells you that it is the right
  thing to do
• e.g. I ought to tell the truth makes no
• reference to desires or needs

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• Kant believed that there is an objective moral
  law and that we know this law through reason.
• Moral rules are binding rules.
• Kant argued that we know the moral law without
  reference to consequences

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• Two things fill the mind with ever new and
  increasing wonder and awethe starry heaven above
  and the moral law within me.
• Immanuel Kant (1788)

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The summum bonum

• Kant believed that humans seek an ultimate end or
  supreme good, which he called the summum bonum
• This is a state in which human virtue and
  happiness are united
• Kant deduced that it is impossible to achieve
  this state in one lifetime
• So it was necessary to have an immortal soul to
  achieve the summum bonum

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So did Kant believe in the existence of God?

• Kant rejected the usual arguments for the
  existence of God
• However, he reasoned that to achieve the summum
  bonum immortality must be necessary, and so must
  God
• God and the afterlife must exist to provide an
  opportunity for reaching the summum bonum
• So for Kant, morality led to God

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Good will and duty

• Kant argues that the highest form of good is good
  will
• To have a good will is to do ones duty
• To do ones duty is to perform actions that are
  morally required (and to avoid actions that are
  morally forbidden)
• Doing ones duty is to do the right thing and not
  the wrong thing

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Why do we do our duty?Because it is our duty to
do it!

• To act out of a desire for the good consequence
  it brings is not to act in
• a morally good way
• We do not do our duty because of the
  consequences, we do it for the duty itself
• Duty is good in itself
• Happiness is also good it comes as a reward for
  acting through good will but duty is the
  highest good

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This is direct contrast to utilitarianism
Why?
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Kants three postulates(3 principles of the
categorical imperative)

• 1. The universal law
• Act only according to that maxim by which you
  can at the same time will that it should become a
  universal law
• Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals 1785

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• For an action to be morally valid, the agent
  or person performing the act must not carry out
  the action unless he or she believes that, in the
  same situation, all people should act in the same
  way.
• Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals 1785

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• In other words, moral laws must be applied in all
  situations and to all rational people without
  exception
• To allow exceptions harms individuals or society
• If everyone were to act as an exception then
  society could not function

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How would acting as an exception cause harm?
Looting a shop
Gran, I love the hat
I had to get to the hospital
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• 2. Treat humans as ends in themselves
• So act that you treat humanity, both in your own
  person and in the person of every other human
  being, never merely as a means, but always at the
  same time as an end.
• The Metaphysics of Morals 1797

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• Do not treat humans as ends for another
  purpose, to exploit or enslave them
• Humans are the highest point of creation
• Humans are rational beings
• We have a duty to develop our own perfection
  (moral, intellectual, physical)
• We also have a duty to seek the happiness of
  others, as long as it is within the law and
  allows the freedom of others
• We should not promote one persons happiness over
  another persons happiness

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What would Kant say about
I know all the restaurant is fully booked but we
have a very special diner
My best friends house
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• 3. Act as if you live in a kingdom of ends
• So act as if you were through your maxim a
  law-making member of a kingdom of ends.
• The Metaphysics of Morals 1797

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• Moral statements should be such that you act as
  if you, and everyone else, were treating each
  other as ends
• A society in which people use a maxim such as It
  doesnt matter if I lie as everyone else lies is
  intolerable

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What would Kant Say about the Dresden bombing?
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Freedom

• We cannot truly be moral agents unless we are
  free to make choices

How would you like to come along and help me?