Phil Kant Paper
Kant Touch This – A Look into Moral Significance of Action
Immanuel Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals is not an easy read. Kant’s writing is very dense and he uses a unique vocabulary. I am going to try to explain Kant’s three Propositions, and then show how the third Proposition follows from the first two. It’s hard at a glance to see how they are connected, but I am going to try to clarify the text so we can see it more clearly. We will also look at examples that can help give us a better understanding of the text.
Kant’s first proposition, although not explicitly stated in the text, is summarized as “a dutiful action has moral worth when it is done from duty”. This proposition is saying an action that is done from duty has moral significance. We are going to find a deeper understanding of this proposition buy looking at it with respect to his other two propositions.
Kant’s second proposition is “an action from duty has its moral worth not in the purpose to be attained by it but in the maxim in accordance with which it is decided upon, and therefore does not depend upon the realization of the object of the action but merely upon the principle of volition in accordance with which the action is done without regard for any object of the faculty of desire.”(4:400) Let’s first look at the first part of the proposition “an action from duty has moral worth not in the purpose to be attained by it” (4:400). To help clarify this statement let us imagine a hero who tries to save children from a burning building, but who dies trying. Even though the purpose of saving the children was not attained, the action still had moral worth. Also let us think of a murder who tries to poison his victim, but accidently cures his victim of a terminal illness by giving him the drug. The outcome of this example is beneficial, but not the intention of the poisoner. We would say this action has no moral worth. By contrasting these two examples we can see how
Immanuel Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals is not an easy read. Kant’s writing is very dense and he uses a unique vocabulary. I am going to try to explain Kant’s three Propositions, and then show how the third Proposition follows from the first two. It’s hard at a glance to see how they are connected, but I am going to try to clarify the text so we can see it more clearly. We will also look at examples that can help give us a better understanding of the text.
Kant’s first proposition, although not explicitly stated in the text, is summarized as “a dutiful action has moral worth when it is done from duty”. This proposition is saying an action that is done from duty has moral significance. We are going to find a deeper understanding of this proposition buy looking at it with respect to his other two propositions.
Kant’s second proposition is “an action from duty has its moral worth not in the purpose to be attained by it but in the maxim in accordance with which it is decided upon, and therefore does not depend upon the realization of the object of the action but merely upon the principle of volition in accordance with which the action is done without regard for any object of the faculty of desire.”(4:400) Let’s first look at the first part of the proposition “an action from duty has moral worth not in the purpose to be attained by it” (4:400). To help clarify this statement let us imagine a hero who tries to save children from a burning building, but who dies trying. Even though the purpose of saving the children was not attained, the action still had moral worth. Also let us think of a murder who tries to poison his victim, but accidently cures his victim of a terminal illness by giving him the drug. The outcome of this example is beneficial, but not the intention of the poisoner. We would say this action has no moral worth. By contrasting these two examples we can see how