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Kant's Analysis of the Categorical Imperative

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In his famous work “The Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals” Kant tries to develop a moral philosophy which depends on fundamental concepts of reason and tries to show that while making moral choices we should use reason. Kant, as an Enlightenment philosopher, places all his confidence in reason. In the first chapter, we generally recognized that an action is moral if and only if it is performed for the sake of duty. Duty commands itself as imperative. There are two types of imperatives as hypothetical and categorical. Hypothetical imperatives are conditional sentences. Thus, they are contingent and dependent on our desires and what we want to accomplish. However, categorical imperatives are not contingent and not have any material …show more content…

“Realm of Ends” formulation of the categorical imperative, states that we must “act in accordance with the maxims of a member giving universal laws for merely possible kingdom of ends.” (4:439) It acts as a social contract. Kant further explains it that “a rational being belongs as a member of the kingdom of ends when he gives universal laws in it but is also himself subject to those laws.” (4:434) Being subject to a law does not contradict with the concept of a rational being as an end in itself, because it is not like a slavery since it is not subject to arbitrary will. Just the opposite, since it draws central points from the first and second formulation, “the will of a member could regard itself as at the same time giving universal law through its maxim” (4:434) and no member will see another member as a mere mean. On the other hand, autonomy is not equal to self-mastery. For Kant, it is essentially social. There is also the influence of Rousseau on Kant. According to Rousseau, in a republic governs itself, its members are also both the source of the law and subject to the law. Kant uses the word “realm” to mean a “systematic union of different rational beings under common laws.” (4:434) And, those common laws are established by the categorical imperative. It is a requirement that we ought to act only according to principles that could be universal laws in a “realm of ends.” The third formulation also establishes why we ought to be moral. The basis for this is the concept of freedom. According to Kant, freedom is the ability to give your own law to your will. If we follow the demands of our desires which are contingent, we are in a state of “heteronomy.” However, if we adopt categorical imperative thus choosing maxim which can be universal laws, we are in a state of “autonomy.” By using reason to determine our universal laws, we can be

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Kant’s notion of freedom connects to morality, which displays contrast between duty and inclination, explaining how only the motive of duty, doing the right thing for the right reason, confers moral worth of an action. Kant believes that everything in nature, including humans, “works in accordance with laws,” that all actions must be appointed by law, The formula of universal law that basically states how you should treat humanity as an end rather than as a means. He says we should only act upon the maxim, a principle that gives a reason for action, without contradiction. Davis claims that law is not always reliable when insuring justice; moreover, Kant can support

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Kant focuses on the phrase, “sapere aude!” This phrase means, “have courage to use your own freedom”,

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The first one mentions a man who is considering taking his own life. He says, “A man feels sick of his life as the result of a mounting series of misfortunes that has reduced him to hopelessness, but he still possesses enough of his reason to ask himself whether it would not be contrary to his duty to himself to take his own life,” (Kant, 516). Kant states that in this instance, “The maxim therefore could not possibly be a general law of nature and thus ut wholly contradicts the supreme principle of all duty,” (Kant, 516). The second scenario mentions a man contemplating borrowing money from someone, knowing he will never be able to repay the debt. Kant states, “I then see immediately that this maxim can never qualify as a self-consistent universal law of nature, but must necessarily contradict itself,” (Kant, 516).

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He makes it out to seem like a paradox or simply that we have the illusion of freedom of will. Many of us would argue against Kant, However his notion of freedom is a little bit different. Kant believes that we are the most free when we follow his idea of a universal moral law. If you do not follow this, he thinks that you are slave to physical needs and desires that come from our nature as human beings or the world around us not from your own freedom of will. During Kant’s time period this thought of freedom of will has more to do with Christian

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Despite the government’s interference, society, and God, every man has the right to his own ideas and choices. For example, Kant says, “...rulers should be identified with the people; that their interest and will be the interest and will of the nation (Mill 2).” Kant saying this means that those who govern the nation, should not choose himself to make the choices for a man's way of life because those choices may not always show goodness. Instead, those who govern the nation should be chosen and should listen and acknowledge the thoughts that are brought to them. Another example that exemplifies Kant arguing for the definition of moral is towards the end of the passage he says that “freedom is pursuing our own good in our own…(Mill ).”

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Locke’s definition of liberty depends on whether the person is in the state of nature, in which people are “without subordination or subjection” (Locke 101) or if they have formed into a commonwealth, or whenever “any number of men are so united into one society, as to quit every one his executive power of the law of nature, and resign it to the public” (Locke 137-38). In the Lockean state of nature, men have a “freedom to order their actions and dispose of their possessions and persons” (Locke 101). This freedom is still limited by what Locke refers to as the law of nature, or that “no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions” (Locke 102). He also defines the liberty of the state of nature as “not to be under any will or legislative authority of man” (Locke 109). In his form of commonwealth, there is more limited freedom, in which liberty is to “be under no legislative power, but that established, by the consent of the commonwealth” (Locke 110).

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A hypothetical imperative is represented in the form of if-clause:“If you want x in the circumstance C, do A. “(Page 448, [2]). It involves the relationship between end and action. It regards action as means for end. The action is inconsistent with end. It can’t become moral law.

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“ Man actually finds himself a faculty which distinguish him form all other things, even form himself as affected by objects, and that is reason”. Everybody is born with reasons, reason motives them to take their duty but according to Kant, if people take their duties based on their reason, then people follows the moral law or reason. If people take their duty not based on their reason, then people are not follow the moral reason. Kant believes the real freedom is not do whatever an individual want to do but he need to thinking “ the general conformity of the will’s action to law in general. Only this conformity to law is to serve the will principle”, which means “ I could want my maxim also become general will”.

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Nature’s Secret Plan Abstract Here in this paper I will try to explain Kant’s essay: Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View. Firstly I would briefly explain the nine principles or thesis stated by Kant and then shed some light on the much more debated part of the text. In his essay, Immanuel Kant predicted that republican forms of government would eventually dominate the world. This, he wrote, was part of nature's "secret plan".

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The freedom or autonomy according to Kant is that human beings have intrinsic value and that human beings can make rational decisions ““Now I say: man and generally any rational being exists as an end in himself, not merely as a means to be arbitrarily used by this or that will, but in all his actions, whether they concern himself or other rational beings, must be always regarded at the same time as an end.” (Page 31) So he is mainly saying that if you have no free will at all then will never be morality at all. Or I shall say it never existed. “Autonomy then is the basis of the dignity of human and of every rational nature.”

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I hope to convince the reader that Kant’s Categorical Imperative is the better way to live a morally conscious life and more practical to follow as well. First I will briefly describe both Kant’s and Mill’s principles. Then I will go on to explain the advantages and disadvantages of both. Finally, I hope to provide a counterargument for some of Kant’s Categorical Imperatives downfalls. Kant states the Categorical Imperative as: "Act as if the maxim of your action were to become through your will and general natural law."

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Topic:- The Critical Study of Kant’s Doctrine of Right. Introduction: What is Right? A right is the sovereignty to act without the permission of others.

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Kant’s moral philosophy stands on the notion of good will, an intrinsic good which is perceived to be so without qualification, independent of any external factors. Thus, he dismisses other values that could be taken as good in themselves, such as happiness, honesty, courage, trust etc. as they have worth only under specific conditions, whereas in others they could be transposed into bad acts. For example, trust is necessary for one to be able to manipulate others, one must have courage to be able to

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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.

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For Helvetius, to be free the government must provide rules that teach man right from wrong, and thereafter man would be free. In conclusion, I have detailed explained the freedom and free will in reference to the one explained by the great philosophers Helvetius, Hegel, Fichte and Rousseau. I also took into account the criticism of their theories. From the above essay they are well described and that how does this theorist are the same and their criticism.

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