The categorical Imperative and My duties as a Student

Introduction

The categorical imperatives can be very complicated and leads to an impossibility to act morally once you
really grasp what it's all about, giving a breakdown it can be seen in three steps, firstly You can will your
maxim to become a universal law: meaning such a world can exist where everyone follows it (so telling a
lie fails since a world where everyone lies all the time cannot be willed into existence). Secondly You
would want to will your maxim to become a universal law: meaning it would be good to be a law
everyone followed (so a selfish world can exist but you wouldn't want to will a world where everyone
were selfish because you know you could very well need help one day). Thirdly your maxim doesn't treat
a fellow rational beings merely as tools. Meaning in a world where people aren't selfish lying bastards
you won't a use their kindness to suit your ends since you know each person has their own worth and life
goals (so you can't ask people to give everything up for your urgent needs if it will affect their own
goals).Under all this is the need to follow the maxim that can be a universal law with a sense of duty and
no other greater reason. But that isn't the categorical imperative. That's what makes my obedience to it a
moral act. If I did it because I knew I'd be rewarded because someone were watching, then my act, though
in obedience to the categorical imperative, is not a moral act. Now how can this moral code or tenets of
morality of Kant guide or affect us as students, It can be interpreted in various ways, the universal duty of
students, the does and don'ts, stages of being a student, student and teacher relationship and many more.
In all this area a connection point within the categorical imperative and students duty is drawn on how
students should focus on being students for it is a universally known theme that students learn from the
teachers and not the other ways round.

Categorical imperative is Kant’s proposed way of evaluating our motivations for why we act. He talks
about two kinds of imperatives (things that must be done):

Hypothetical imperatives, that have a specific end in mind, such as: To stop being hungry, I must eat
something.

Categorical imperatives, where our actions are based on moral principles, and are an end in themselves
because they come from our moral goodness. They are not to attain something but to emulate what you
would want to consider as a universal law.

Kant identifies by saying, “Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in
the person of any other, never merely as a means to an end, but always at the same time as an end.” The
way he puts it is complicated, but it is really a secular way of dealing with moral duty. The Church has

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 created moral duty using the motivation that we don’t want be punished with eternal damnation as well as
imprisonment in this life. Kant says that it’s not because of our fear of hell that the good person chooses
his actions, it’s because he has reasoned it out that it is his duty to be good and do good things. Possessing
good will is one thing, but the reason we actually perform a good action is the result of our obligation to
do the right thing. In other words, we ought to.

The categorical imperatives can be understood in the sense that we all belong to one category; like a
student. As a student we have to follow the teachers’ instruction so that we can learn through reading or
doing project. However, if we don’t act in the capacity of student status and act like your teacher’s
teacher, then we have thrown away the moral obligation attached to being a student, solely obey and listen
to and follow instructions from the teacher. As a role-switching phenomenon, we may go into other adult
role plays; Son will grow into a father, daughter into mom, consumer into producer, buyer into seller,
employee into and employer etc as we are growing up as we filtering through our life. Moral principles
perhaps should be observed in each actively role-play we have. Once, it is observed, it can serve to foster
a more harmonious social network. Each of us can shoulder responsibility and obligations that matches
with his social role. It starts as children, when we are in the receiving end of being served from everyone
around us, like mom, dad, doctors, police, teachers, principal, uncles and aunts and all the adults who help
us grow. We must obey, listen to them so to learn all skills necessary for adulthood. But when we grow up
into adulthood, it’s time for us to serve our community and work as professionals until the day we are
retired. This give-and-take social relationship is pretty universal to all communities as it is the more
logical way of building a good social relationship. The students’ duty is to behave well and learn like a
student should be. Don’t think it’s smart to outsmart your teachers and adults. Your duty is to pass through
that phase of learning to help grow into somebody that can further impact the future generations be it as
their future teachers directly or indirectly, your duty is to learn to help groom the future.

Conclusion

Kant was searching for that essential grounding for ethics that would account for the morality of acts,
define what a moral act was, apply to all moral acts, and apply to all rational beings. The Categorical
Imperative is categorical because it is intended to be universal - applies to all moral agents in all moral
situations but it is not universal; it is an imperative because the act is done only for the sake of acting in a
moral way - it is like a command, not a piece of advice. This is to say our duty as students are also
universal and is one decides to be a student he must act as one and abide by the guiding principles of
being a student and fulfil them without going beyond that.

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