Categorical Imperative

Kant believed that there’s a supreme principle of morality, which he refers to as “The Categorical Imperative.” The Categorical Imperative is an absolute command built on universal abilities. It helps us determine what our moral duties are by acting only on a maxim (rules) that one can will to be a universal law. The universal law must apply to every single person, even yourself, with no exception (Restrepo, “Kant_Fairness”). One example of an action I took based on Kant’s concept of “the Categorical Imperative” is deciding not to cheat on the chemistry test. Because I had a lot on my plate and was distracted for the last few weeks due to my family problems, I was kind of slacking in chemistry. I didn’t know what was going on in class. I tried to pay
I didn’t want to mess up my 4.0, but I never cheated so I didn’t really know how to. According to the concept of “Categorical Imperative,” cheating is immoral. The concept asserts that the maxim of cheating has to be universal for it to be moral. However, if cheating is made into a universal law and everyone follows the maxim of cheating on the test, tests would be abolished. If there are no tests, the maxim would no longer stand; there’s a contradiction. Since it’s impossible for the maxim to be a universal law in this situation, cheating is concluded to be immoral. Furthermore, if the opposite is considered, universal law of not cheating, it is possible. People can go about without cheating and doing things the right way. Since it’s possible for everyone to not cheat, it passes the categorical imperative and can be said that “not cheating” is moral So, considering the risk of getting caught and cheating being immoral based on the concept “Categorical Imperative”, I decided not to cheat. I ended up pulling an all-nighter, and studying for hours by myself as well as with my friends. Surprisingly, I ended up getting a 96 somehow – which gave me joy. My work paid