Immanuel Kant’s Right Theory

Kant believed that there was a supreme principle of morality, and he referred to it as The Categorical Imperative.
It determines what our moral duties are. The rightness or wrongness of actions does not depend on their
consequences but on whether they fulfil our duty.

Morality and imperatives:  What does it mean for one's duty to be determined by the categorical imperative?
What is an imperative?  An imperative is a command.  So, "Pay your taxes!" is an imperative, as are "Stop
kicking me!" and "Don't kill animals!"
Hypothetical Imperatives:  these imperatives command conditionally on your having a relevant desire.  E.g. “If
you want to go to medical school, study biology in college.”  If you don’t want to go to medical school, this
command doesn’t apply to you.  Another example, your father says, "if you are hungry, then go eat something!" -
if you aren't hungry, then you are free to ignore the command.

Categorical Imperatives:  These command unconditionally.  E.g. “Don’t cheat on your taxes.”  Even if you want
to cheat and doing so would serve your interests, you may not cheat.
  (https://www.csus.edu/indiv/g/gaskilld/ethics/kantian%20ethics.htm

Fundamental Duties of Action: Versions of Categorical Imperative

1.) Respect persons: “Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always
as an end and never as a means only.”

2.) Universalize principles: “Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it
should become a universal law.”

3.) Be autonomous: “Act only so that the will through its maxims could regard itself at the same time as
universally law giving” (Martin, Everyday Morality).

Kant’s three fundamental duties underlie all the more specific principles of duty or, as he called them,
maxims and moral laws. He also referred to specific duties like ‘Don’t lie as categorical imperatives. An imperative
is simply a command, and a categorical command is one without conditions or qualifications attached. This is Kant’s
way of emphasizing that morality requires us to fulfill our duties simply because those duties make valid claims
on us, and not solely because we have self-seeking desires.

1.) To respect persons is to recognize them as being rational or autonomous in ways that should restrict our
own actions. Rationality or autonomy is the capacity to make decisions for oneself in the pursuit of reasonable
purposes, such as seeking happiness, developing talents, and obeying universal principles of duty that apply
to all rational beings. Kant expressed this idea of respect by saying that people are “ends-in-themselves,” as
opposed to mere means to be used for our own purposes and ends…People have their own rational
purposes, which place moral constraints on how we may treat them. Their rationality or autonomy gives them
a worth and dignity beyond any price….To murder, rape or torture other people is to flagrantly treat them as
objects to be used for our purposes, in disregard of their own rational desires not to be treated in theses
ways…by lying to and deceiving other people we are using them as objects. To deceive is to manipulate
people’s beliefs, as well as their actions based on those beliefs, thus assaulting their rationality (Ibid).

2.) All duties have in common that they are universal; that is, they apply to all rational beings….to determine
how we ought to act, we must formulate principles that we can envision and affirm everyone acting on….We
can easily imagine everyone acting on the principle “Do not lie” but we cannot imagine everyone acting on the
principle “Lie when it suits your own purposes.” If everyone followed the latter principle, communication would
break down. People would no longer take one another’s statements seriously, so both sincere and deceitful
statements would become impossible to make….we can imagine everyone acting on the rule, “Do not help
others who are in desperate need,” yet as rational agents – by Kant’s definition of rational – we would want
people to help us when we are in desperate need. The no-help rule conflicts with our own rational purposes.
Thus, the attempt to will the no-help rule as a universal principle results in a conflict within our own will (Ibid).

3.) The duty to respect persons entails the duty to respect oneself. That duty involves appreciation of our
own autonomy as we recognize and respond to specific duties. It is not enough to do only what is required by
universal duties; we must also act out of a sense of duty. This is the good will: the good intentions to act on
principles that respect all rational beings. This sense of duty is the only thing that Kant praises as intrinsically
 good – good in and of itself, independent of its consequences. Our nobility lies in this capacity to do what is
right because we see it is right, and not solely for ulterior motives, such as to make our parents or peers or
ourselves happy, advance our career, or gain religious rewards. Because this good will is a personal
expression of our own rational nature, we can be said to “give ourselves the moral law” we live by. And
because the moral law consists of universal principles applicable to everyone, we can also regard our own
rational nature as the source of moral principles (Ibid).

Activity 3: Skill-building Activities (18 mins + 2 mins checking)

A. Developmental Activity (8 mins.)

Direction: Write at least two duties you have for humanity that coincide with morality.(see example)

DUTY MORALITY
Ex. Respect human rights Answer. Justice

1._________________________________________ 1._____________________________________________
2._________________________________________ 2._____________________________________________

Score:____

B. Formative Assessment (10 mins.)

Direction: Analyze the situations below in relation to Categorical imperative or duty. Justify each answer in one
or two sentences.

Situation 1.
You are a policeman, and during the operation you accidentally killed an innocent child. Is it moral?

Answer:___________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Situation 2.
When things going to fall short of what is expected of you, is it moral or immoral? (For example, you are a doctor
and you are expected to save lives. Despite doing everything, you failed to save the Covid-19 patient and he/she died).

Answer:___________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Score:__________

Note: Check your answers against the Key to Corrections found at the end of this SAS. Write your score on your
paper. (You can also check or consider your answers as long as your ideas are closely related to the given)

2. Activity 4: What I Know Chart, part 2 (2 mins)

Note: This serves as your review and summary of what was learned from the session. You have to monitor how
your knowledge has changed by reviewing the questions in the What I Know Chart from Activity 1.

Instructions: Write your answers to the questions based on what You now know in the third column of the
chart below.

What I Know Questions: What I Learned

(Activity 4)

What is Kant’s supreme principle of

morality?
Do you know what is Categorical
Imperative?

How does categorical imperative differ

from hypothetical imperative?

Activity 5: Check for Understanding (5 mins)

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 Instructions. Read and analyze Kant’s summary of his Ethics on Categorical Imperative below, then answer the
question that follows.

Summary. According to Kant, a good person is someone who always does their duty because it is their duty.  It
is fine if they enjoy doing it, but it must be the case that they would do it even if they did not enjoy it.  The overall
theme is that to be a good person you must be good for goodness sake 1.

Question: What is your comment or reaction to Kant’s idea in the last sentence which says in part…
“ to be a good person you must be good for goodness sake.”?

Answer:

Score:_____
Note: (Key to Correction for this test should only be in the Teachers’ Guide and not in the SAS)

C. LESSON WRAP-UP

Activity 6: Thinking about Learning (5 mins)

Direction: Read and analyze the situation below and answer the question that follows.

“Imagine that someone is fleeing from a murderer and tells you he is going home to hide. Then the
murderer comes, playing innocent, and asks where the first man went. You believe that if you tell the truth, the
murderer will find the man and kill him. Furthermore, suppose the murderer is already headed in the right
direction, and you believe that if you simply remain silent, he will find the man and kill him”
(Rachels, The Elements of Moral Philosophy).

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KANTIAN ETHICS https://www.csus.edu/indiv/g/gaskilld/ethics/kantian%20ethics.htm
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