Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Kant’s categorical imperatives
Kant and the categorical imperative
Kant and the categorical imperative
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Categorical Imperative and Duties Kant divides duties into two groups- duties towards others and duties towards self. They are further subdivided into strict and meritorious duties. Lets consider these duties one by one in light of Categorical Imperative. Strict Duties to others : Consider a person is in need of money.
A modern law enforcement officer is taught to think critically and reflect on expected circumstances to possess some effective skills on leadership. Furthermore, law enforcement officers who has a strong problem solving skills and effective communication skills also develop community policing potentials. Improving a better understanding of leadership allows the public to respect the professionalism that a police officer upholds. Immanuel Kant’s ethical theories believe that an individual has the ability to make rational decision based on the action given to them (Kant 's Ethics, 2002). Immanuel Kant’s ethical theories are to illustrate the importance of duty and moral standards.
One objection to Kantian deontology is that it does not propose a solution where two absolute duties conflict with each other. As previously stated, according to Kant, duties are absolute moral rules and the objective morality grounds on this feature of duties. However, this absolutism leads to possible conflict of duties and Kantian deontology does not provide a form for this kind of situations. For instance, I borrow a pocket knife from my friend and I promise to give it back when she wants back.
To get a better understanding of Kant, his categorical imperative and Formula of Universal Law, let’s examine a scenario. A young women (under 18) forgets to use precaution during sex and ultimately ends up being pregnant. She goes to the hospital and aborts her fetus just because she is too young to have a child. Did the woman do the right thing? Kant would say no here.
Ruining someone else’s life because it would simplify mine is not something I can both do, and still expect to sleep at night. For this reason, I support Kant’s Categorical Imperative. Kant claims that it is not the consequences of an action that determines its moral worth, but the maxim behind the action (Kant 105). If my decision to leave an innocent man alone leads to unrest in the city, that has no bearing on the moral worth of my action. If I were to convict this man, even if it were to lead to the favorable result of a peaceful city, I would still have to battle with my corrupted maxim and overwhelming guilt.
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.
He who governs by his moral excellence may be compared to the pole star which abides in its place while all other stars bow towards it. Deciding for oneself between what is right and what is wrong has always been an important part of life. All throughout history this subject has been debated and there have been many who have attempted to discover an absolute solution. Among these is the remarkable German philosopher, Immanuel Kant. Applied correctly, Kant’s moral principles, specifically the categorical imperative, would greatly alter one’s view of life and due to this it may help to not only make the world a better place, but to also bolster individual lives.
Kant was an 18th century philosopher who examined the roots of philosophy and formed the deontological moral duty theory. This theory assesses the moral integrity of an action, based on its motive, irrespective of its consequence; hence asserting that an action can only be good if, and only if, its maxim is duty to the moral law. The basic structure of Kant 's construction of the moral law is the categorical imperative, which explains that we have a duty to act in the same way every time we are faced with an ethical decision. You do the right thing simply because it is the right thing to do. According to Kant only the categorical imperative provides an enlightened premise for making decisions without relying on any other order i.e. only the
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.
KANT AND FREE WILL Introduction At first place in the chapter 1 of GMM, Kant tries to demonstrate that there is a moral law which is driven from the sense of moral obligations. He identifies how the moral law possibly driven from the sense of moral obligations that motive us to act morally. Kant simply implies that a universal moral law that can be only exist in kind of formula determining if an action is moral or not. He named the formula Categorical Imperative which can be basically defined as “Always act so that you can will the rule of your action to be a universal law.”
Deontological ethical theory, is frequently identified with Immanuel Kant, as he believed from his theory of duty, that If something is wrong then it is always wrong. " Deontological ethical theory is an ethical theory that evaluates behavior in terms of adherence to duty or obligation, regardless of consequences" (Mitchell, 2015, p.455).Deontology considers that moral actions are equivalent to abiding by the rules. Basically this assists us in understanding which behaviors are acceptable and which are prohibited. "Deontological theory holds that human beings have a certain duty of action, and doing the right ethical thing means doing our human duty in a given situation" (South University, 2016,week 5).
Ethics also called moral philosophy, “is the discipline concerned with what is morally good and bad, right and wrong. The term is also applied to any system or theory of moral values or principles”.1 For Socrates “Ethics are the norms by which acceptable and unacceptable behavior are measured”.2 He believed that individuals develop ethics through maturity, wisdom and love. Ethics have developed as people have reflected on the intentions and consequences of their actions. Immanuel Kant however argued that “moral requirements are based on a standard of rationality he called the Categorical Imperative”.3 Kant’s theory can be seen as an example of the deontological moral theory.
Kant’s Categorical Imperative In Business Business Ethics Table of Contents Table of Contents Letter of Acknowledgement 3 Abstract 4 Introduction 6 Objectives 11 Analysis 12 Letter of Acknowledgement We have made this report to submit for our group project in our Business Ethics course. We would like to express our whole hearted thanks to Almighty Allah by whose grace and blessings we have the knowledge; insight and opportunity to this complete this report.
Also, there is another important aspect of Kantianism, which is called a categorical imperative. This is the aspect that helps us to constrain our maxims. In accordance to Kant, there are three different formulations of the categorical imperative: formula of the universal law, formula of the end-in-itself, and formula of the kingdom of ends. (White, 2015C, p. 2) The formula of the universal law is telling us about the maxims that can be transferable into a universal law, which means that the action taken out of that particular maxim can be applicable to anyone.
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) Deontology: the Ethics of Duty When it comes to Moral theories we have to understand what Immanuel Kant has written on . The concept of the “good will” The concept of duty Three principles