Kantians believe that the rightness or wrongness of an action does not depend on the consequences, but on whether they fulfill a duty. They must act in a way that will produce the greatest overall amount of good in the world. In this view there is no obligation to give money to a homeless person, but it is the right thing to do. Kant’s supreme moral principle is the categorical imperative. The categorical imperative is a moral law that is unconditional for all agents because of intrinsic value.
According to Categorical Imperative, what would it be like if everyone started making false promises and it became a universal law? It would be a undesirable situation where the very notion of ‘promise’ would collapse. Therefore, it is a duty of every rational being not to make a lying promise. Such duties are called strict duties to others. Strict Duties to self : A man is in a very miserable condition.
Immanuel Kant’s, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, pages 516-521, discusses the concept of the categorical imperative. The categorical imperative serves as the foundational principle for moral reasoning. Kant states, “There is therefore only one categorical imperative and it is this: “Act only on that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law,” (Kant, 516). He explains the categorical imperative as a universal moral law. He says it applies to all rational beings.
A categorical imperative is such that it commands an action that is “objectively necessary by itself, without reference to another end” (414). From these definitions, it is clear to see that an imperative carries absolute necessity and universality. Hence, Kant formulates the SP as the categorical imperative, which is beneficial as Kant also asserts exactly what is contained by a categorical imperative, namely the law and “only the necessity of the maxim to conform to with this law” (420-421), can be revealed by inspection. Kant’s categorical imperative
Kant expresses his belief that there is a hypothetical and categorical imperative. Hypothetical imperatives are rules of skill, and are usually framed in the sense of cause and effect. For instance, if you want something then you need to take whatever actions are necessary to get it. Let’s say that you want an apple from a tree. If you want to get an apple from a tree you have to to the tree, figure out a way to get to the apple and pick it off.
The final ethical theory is Kant’s deontology. Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher who admire the stoics for their dedication to performing their duties and playing their part. He based his theory on duties, obligations, and rights. Its main focus is that everyone has an inherited right. It highlights the importance of respecting a person autonomy.
The end does not justify the means. This was the principal ethical theory of Immanuel Kant and made up his ‘Categorical Imperative’, a deontological argument which showcased how certain actions are fundamentally wrong, such as murder, lying or torture and can therefore, never be justified. Contrastingly a utilitarian would claim that the ends do in fact justify the means and would enact a focus on outcomes in deciding whether or not an action is morally permissible. In 2002 Jakob Von Metzler, a boy of just twelve years, was kidnapped and a police officer threatened the kidnapper, Magnus Gafgen, with torture in an attempt to find and save the child. Gafgen told the officer that he had killed the boy and then disclosed the location of the body.
Kant’s Categorical Imperative seems eerily similar to the old adage “Treat others the way you would want to be treated.” I say this because the general idea of Kant’s philosophy is to hold yourself to a standard that the world should also be held to. There are numerous examples where you can show that this philosophy works, ranging from smaller scale examples affecting only a few people, to larger scale example that could affect the whole world. One of these smaller scale examples could be; If a mother is pushing an infant in a stroller, and she has a toddler toddling behind her. She is also struggling to get the door open in order to usher the toddler through it, and get through the door herself.
The formulation of Kant’s categorical Imperative is the act of your maxim, were a universal law of nature. Kant said that the maxim should be suggested that we think of wills of maxims, or rules for action, and then we judge those maxims in terms of whether everyone could act on them (page 841). Kant says, I should never act except in such a way that I can also will that my maxim should become a universal law (page 841). By which he means we should have a direction for how we should know how to behave in a certain situation. One such maxim can be we should keep our agreement or moral ethical ways when we make them.
Ethics and the search for a good moral foundation first drew me into the world of philosophy. It is agreed that the two most important Ethical views are from the world’s two most renowned ethical philosophers Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill. In this paper, I will explore be analyzing Mill’s Greatest Happiness Principle and Kant’s Categorical Imperative. In particular, I want to discuss which principle provides a better guideline for making moral decisions. And which for practical purposes ought to be taught to individuals.
The categorical imperative is a central concept of the Kantian ethic according to Kant, all the morality of the human being must be able to be reduced to a single fundamental commandment, born of reason, not of divine authority, from which all the others can be deduced Human obligations. He defined the concept of categorical imperative as any proposition that declares action (or inaction) as necessary. In his opinion, the previous moral maxims were based on hypothetical imperatives, so they were not obliged to comply in any situation and from any moral, religious or ideological approach. According to Kant, the only thing that is good, always and in every situation, is goodwill. And to say that a person acts by goodwill is tantamount to saying
The categorical imperative is an unconditional command, which, for Kant, told us what our duties were. This is a deontological theory, which means it points to the actions that are good in themselves and pursue the ultimate aim of reaching supreme good, while also telling us which actions are forbidden. This theory is based on duty. To act morally is to do one’s duty, and one’s duty is to obey the moral law. This theory distinguishes between duty and inclination and accepts that if something can’t be done, then there is no guilt.
The categorical imperative is formal, while the substance is decided by the person. The idea is that by a process of reasoning, one can check his intuitions and desires and see if they can become a general rule for moral behavior. Kant bases his theory on three main concepts: the good will, the duty and the law. The moral worth of an action is measured in its intention.
Kant believes that most people know right from wrong; the problem most people have is not in knowing what is morally, but in doing it. Kant also argued that rightness or wrongness of particular acts is determined by rules; these rules could be determined by his principle of universalizability. He also argued reason require not only that moral duties be universal but also absolutely binding. For instance, when lying is the only option to save someone’s life, still we shall not lie for it is morally wrong to lie. Kant introduced categorical imperative which states that people ought to do something regardless of the consequences.
(Hunter, 2001, p.306) There is no exception for rational individuals in the world to escape from the law of categorical imperative. The presentation of categorical imperative is somehow like a test of morality (Hunter, 2001, p.306), rather than just a moral concept. Moral maxim is of vital necessity in the determination of morality for an action. From Kant’s view, an action can be treated as moral when it is motivated by one’s maxim, while it also suits the universal law.
