Preview

Kant's Categorical Imperative

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
637 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Kant's Categorical Imperative
Explain the main principles of Kant’s Categorical Imperative. (25) Kant believed that a moral action is made up of duty and good will. Without duty, an action cannot be morally good. This is how he developed the duty-based Categorical Imperative, also known as moral commands, as a foundation for all other rules and will be true in any circumstance purely based on reason. These tell everyone what to do and don’t depend on anything else, such as personal desires. Within the Categorical Imperative, Kant outlines three important maxims in ‘The Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals’ which test how morally acceptable an action is.
The first maxim states: “Always act in such a way that you can also will that the maxim of your action should be a universal law”. This can be interpreted to mean that only do something if it can be universalised and if it’s something that will always be acceptable for anyone to do. If it can’t be universalised then it is not a valid moral rule. To illustrate this, Kant uses the example of suicide, claiming that it is always wrong because it can’t be made a universal law. He asks us to consider if we would want everyone to take their own life in any situation, even if it is to escape a state of suffering and despair. Stealing would also be considered never to be morally acceptable in Kantian Ethics since it cannot be universalised as well. If it was to be universalised, everyone would be stealing from each other, therefore human relationships would fail because trust is the foundation of human relationships. Furthermore, this maxim is important in order for there to be a harmonious society.
The second says: “Act so that you treat humanity, both in your own person and in that of another, always as an end and never merely as a means”. Here, Kant was telling us that we should value every individual and not use anybody to gain something else; he believed that the end can never justify the means. For instance, if you allowed a person to be

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Kant, worked on ethics and wrote two general schools of thoughts. The first theory is consequentialist moral theories, which divides the thought of right and wrong based on the outcome and it consequence of an action, therefore the end justifies the means.The second theory is deontology which is similar to consequentialist but instead right and wrong based upon oneself. Thus categorical imperative was introduced, categorical imperative is based upon kant's idea that morality is derived by rationality and all moral judgement are rationally supported, in other words what’s right is right and what’s wrong is wrong. In more detail into categorical Imperative, there are three maxim, first maxim is all your actions must have universality. therefore for if you want to do something it must be okay for everyone else to do it, as Kant uses suicide as an example he says “is it contrary to my duty to take my life if i am in despair due to my many misfortunes? First, i should ask what if all though this way and acted upon it and became a law of nature” Second Maxim is every human should be treated as a end and not a mean, which means you’re not obligated nor allowed to manipulate someone no matter what. Third maxim one should act like you're the moral authority of the entire universe. As we compare this to Friedrich Nietzsche’s thoughts on morality we notice difference. immanuel Kant in…

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Say your family and you are struggling to meet your basic needs such as food during a harsh famine. Your basic instinct is to acquire food by any means necessary. One way you could get food is by stealing it from your neighbor. In this essay I will examine whether this issue is morally right. I will argue that by using Kant’s End in itself theory, stealing food from your neighbor in time of famine is morally wrong.…

    • 727 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Maxim refers to a principle or reason. This is saying that the moral worth is depending upon the reason for which one performs the action. In the grocery store example, the moral worth of his act to be fair to all the customers is moral because by the goodness of it being a moral law or duty, not by what it will bring oneself. The only maxims or principles that can be one are that which everyone agrees upon including oneself. If everyone acts on that maxim then the action itself has moral worth. The action has to be a universally agreed upon. One must ask themselves if this could be a law for everyone. If this is true then one’s action indeed has moral worth.…

    • 1196 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Kant approached towards philosophy; he developed “The Categorical Imperative” which is a rule to do what is right. He believed that we shouldn’t lie to one another; he also believed that if we made a promise we should keep that promise. “Kant argues that the moral worth of an action it’s to be judged not by its consequences but by the nature of the maxim or principles…

    • 93 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this essay I’m going to address questions concerning Kant’s grounding for the metaphysics of morals. First, I will describe each of his examples of acts done out of desire and acts done out of duty. Then I will answer the following questions: 1. What conclusion about moral worth does Kant use these examples to illustrate? 2. Whether I agree or disagree with Kant that if you perform an action out of duty, then the act has more moral worth that it would if you were to perform it out of the desire to make someone else happy—using my own example of a moral act done out of the desire to make someone else happy.…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Emmanuel Kant (hereinafter “Kant”) believes that Ethics is categorical and states that our moral duties are not dependent on feelings but on reason. He further states that our moral duties are unconditional, universally valid, and necessary, regardless of the possible consequences or opposition to our inclinations (Pojman and Vaughn 239).…

    • 273 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The “moral law”, according to Kant, is when one is to act in accordance with the demands of practical reason, or acting done solely out of respect of duty. He says that moral laws will make you will in a certain way and is not subject to something further. Moral laws apply to all rational being in all places at all times. Overall, he believes that morality is on a basis of a priori, or preceding experience.…

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The first of the formulas for the categorical imperative is the universalizability principle—“Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.” (Kant 30). By this principle, Kant places emphasis not on an action in and of itself, but the general rule that stands behind the act that is being considered. Further, Kant is unconcerned with the outcome of the action and his philosophy on morality is instead focused on the intention behind actions. Through this formulation, Kant’s philosophy essentially prohibits any human from making his or herself an exception to a rule that he or she would not want every other human to…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Kant's Humanity Formula

    • 1663 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Kant's way of determining morality of actions is quite different from other philosophers, and many find it extremely hard to grasp or implausible. The central concept of his basic test for morality found in his Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals is the categorical imperative. "The representation of an objective principle, insofar as it is necessitating for a will, is called a command (of reason), and the formula of the command is called an imperative"(Kant, 24). In other words, an imperative is something that a will ought or shall do because the will is obligated to act in a way in which conforms to moral law. Imperatives can also be referred to as the supreme principle of morality.…

    • 1663 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The second thing you should do to determine if the maxim can become universal is look at your answer to the first question. Did you say “yes, I think that everyone will do it?”. If so, then ask yourself if it makes rational sense to want everyone in the same situation to do what you are contemplating doing. If your answer was no to either question then your maxim cannot become universal law because it is not considered moral. Overall, based on Kant, an act is morally right only if the primary rule of behavior, which is how you decide to act morally, can…

    • 895 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Kant's Groundwork

    • 2358 Words
    • 10 Pages

    The categorical imperative describes Kant’s account for morality’s absolute and unconditional commandment, which dictates rational beings’ moral obligations and duties. From the notion and understanding of a ‘good will’, to that of ‘duty,’ springs out Kant’s three propositions that give rise to the categorical imperative’s first formulation. Through these propositions, the first formulation arrives at the fundamental principle of morality and thus the principle upon a good will must act. It can be read as follows: ‘Act only according to that maxim whereby you can the same time, will that it should become a universal law.’ In order to understand how it is that Kant arrived at this first formulation, first, I will present a close examination and definition of concepts such as ‘good will’ and ‘duty,’ and then analyze how these are incorporated in Kant’s three propositions that arrive at the categorical imperative itself through the explanation of his three propositions. Together with this will be certain limitations I have observed upon close examination of the text in this first section of Kant’s Groundwork.…

    • 2358 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The situation changes when someone is not successful in life, and the worries of everyday life overwhelm him so that he loses the desire to live, but out of duty he still protects his life, then his maxim has moral content and his actions are worth imitating. That is why Kant suggests that thanks to reason, people should take actions that could…

    • 1106 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Absolute Moral Rules

    • 1947 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, Immanuel Kant argues that humans should “act only on that maxim through which [they] can at the same time will that it should become a universal law” (Kant, p. 542). According to Kant, the judgment of one’s action is his/her intention behind the action regardless of the consequences. The good will is human reason without consequences, without outside influences, such as emotions. In order for…

    • 1947 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Deontology is the ethical view that some actions are morally forbidden or permitted regardless of consequences. One of the most influential deontological philosophers in history is Immanuel Kant who developed the idea of the Categorical Imperative. Kant believed that the only thing of intrinsic moral worth is a good will. Kant says in his work Morality and Rationality "The good will is not good because of what it effects or accomplishes or because of it's adequacy to achieve some proposed end; it is good only because of it's willing, i.e., it is good of itself". A maxim is the generalized rule that characterizes the motives for a person's actions. For Kant, a will that is good is one that is acting by the maxim of doing the right thing because it is right thing to do. The moral worth of an action is determined by whether or not it was acted upon out of respect for the moral law, or the Categorical Imperative. Imperatives in general imply something we ought to do however there is a distinction between categorical imperatives and hypothetical imperatives. Hypothetical imperatives are obligatory so long as we desire X. If we desire X we ought to do Y. However, categorical imperatives are not subject to conditions. The Categorical Imperative is universally binding to all rational creatures because they are rational. Kant proposes three formulations the Categorical Imperative in his Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Moral, the Universal Law formulation, Humanity or End in Itself formulation, and Kingdom of Ends formulation. In this essay, the viablity of the Universal Law formulation is tested by discussing two objections to it, mainly the idea that the moral laws are too absolute and the existence of false positives and false negatives.…

    • 1561 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Immanuel Kant created a handful of formulations regarding his system of determining morality, the Categorical Imperative. James and Stuart Rachels in The Elements of Moral Philosophy, illuminate Kant's first and second Categorical Imperatives. While Kant claims the formulations are equivalent, they offer differing guidelines on how the Categorical Imperative is operated. Although the formulations share the same basis, the difference regarding how the formulations are adhered, is a large distinction difficult to ignore, and renders the two versions as separate subjects.…

    • 675 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics