Immanuel Kant

LET’S
BEGIN WITH
THIS
History
● Born April 22, 1724, Königsberg, Prussia [now Kaliningrad, Russia]

● Died February 12, 1804, Königsberg

● German philosopher whose comprehensive and systematic work in

epistemology (the theory of knowledge), ethics, and aesthetics greatly
influenced all subsequent philosophy, especially the various schools of
Kantianism and idealism.
 Notable works
● Critique of Pure Reason
(1781).
● Groundwork for the
Metaphysics of Morals, 1785,
● Critique of Practical Reason,
1788
● Revised the Critique of Pure
Reason in 1787.
● Kant capped the decade with
the publication of the third
and final critique, Critique of
the Power of Judgment
(1790).
 What is Kantian ethics?
žKant argued that most things we think of as good are not always good.
Intelligence, wealth etc. could always be used for evil.

žFor Kant, the only thing that is always good in itself is a good will. (This
is a kind of drive to do the right thing, whatever it is.)

žWe should want to act in a certain way because it is right, not because of the
consequences, or for any other reason.

žOur job as moral agents is to work out what our duties are, and then to
follow them.
 Kant aimed to resolve disputes between Empiricalist (Hume)and
Rationalists (Leibniz) approaches

Empiricalists asserted: Rationalists asserted:

Human mind is like a black Reason and innate

slate, all knowledge only ideas comes prior to
comes through experience, experience, “ You see
“You believe what you see" what you believe”
Kant’s View:

1. Experience is purely subjective without first being

processed by pure reason.

2. Using reason without applying it to experience only

leads to theoretical illusions

3. A true principle is one that synergises reason

with experience
ORIGIN OF MORAL LAWS

● Kant rejects scriptures, consciousness, inner perfection of

soul or God’s will or any other external source as the source
of moral law.
● He provided that all moral laws are derived from human
reason
● He believed that, “ Man has a self legislating capacity”
DEONTOLOGICAL THEORY OF KANT
● Deontology derived from Greek word: Deon (Duty) +
Logos (reason)
● It means that an action is moral, if it can be considered
to be a duty with the reason that is universally
acceptable.
● Thus, morality is not a divine law, but a law that can be
determined using reason and logic.
MORAL ACTIONS AS DUTY

● Consequences have nothing to do with the moral duty

● A moral duty may lead to good or bad consequences.
● The result of an action does not determine the moral value of an
action
● An action leading to undesirable consequence could be moral and
an action leading to good consequences could be immoral.
● One should obey the moral law as a duty without bothering about its
consequences
CATEGORICAL
IMPERATIVE
● žSince moral laws must be universal, they cannot depend
on a particular person’s circumstances or their desires.

● žKant called these laws “categorical imperatives” – they

identify principles that we should all always follow.

● žThis is in contrast with “hypothetical imperatives” – principles

that we should follow only if we have certain desires.
● Categorical Imperative is an absolute command to be obeyed
for its own sake.
● These are commands one must follow regardless of your
desires, because moral obligations are derived from pure
reason
● It doesn’t matter whether you want to be moral or not ---- The
moral law is binding on all of us
● You don’t need religion to determine what that law is,
because what’s right and wrong is totally knowable just by
using your intellect.
ACTIVITY
žWhat are our duties?

žWhich of these acts follow principles that could be universalized, and

which depend on people’s desire for certain consequences?

1.A shopkeeper gives a customer the right change because he likes the
customer.

2.A shopkeeper gives a customer the right change because he thinks

this is his duty as a shopkeeper.

3.A shopkeeper gives a customer the right change because he wants to

maintain a good reputation.
 CATEGORICAL vs HYPOTHETICAL

The Categorical The hypothetical

imperative is to act for imperative is acting in
the sake of duty only. order to receive some
Kant argues that the kind of reward.
categorical imperative
is the only good way to
act.
FORMULATION 1:
THE UNIVERSALIZABILITY PRINCIPLE
The principle of universalizability is a form of a
moral test that invites us to imagine a world in
which any proposed action is also adopted by
everyone else. Most notably, it is the
foundational principle for deontological, or
duty-based, ethics.

For example, if we are tempted to lie, then we

have to think what the world would be like if
everyone lied, or in a similar vein, if we consider
donating to charity, what would it be like if
everyone made the same choice. The principle
acts like a litmus test by indicating whether acts
are morally acceptable or not. Universalizing
some actions will lead to a self-contradiction,
indicating that they are morally unacceptable.
 A rule or
principle of
action

Act according to the maxim which

you can at the same time will that
it should become a universal law
without contradiction” Something that must
always be done in
similar situations
FORMULATION 2:
THE FORMULA OF HUMANITY
● žKant thought that human reason was extremely valuable.

● žTo respect other people’s reason, and their ability to

discover and follow the moral law for themselves, we must
never use them for our own purposes.

● žKant expressed this by saying that we should never treat

humanity “merely as a means” (to getting what we want), but
“always as an end in itself”.
Mere means

To use it only for your own

benefit with no thought to the
interest or benefit of the thing
you are using
We are not mere objects that exist to be used by
others. We are our own ends, we’re rational and
autonomous. We have the ability to set our own goals
and work towards them.

Unlike other things in the world, we’re self governed.

We’re able to set our own ends to make our own free
decisions based on our rational wills.
The Trolley Problem
FORMULATION 3: