Quimson, Jaden P.

BSN 2A

1. Give a little background of the Philosopher Immanuel Kant.

Kant was born in Konigsberg, the German state of Prussia (modern-day

Kaliningrad, Russia), in 1724. At 16, Kant enrolled in the local university, intending to
study math and physics. During his time at the university, his father died unexpectedly,
and the peculiarities of 18th-century German inheritance laws left Kant virtually
penniless. He was forced to put his education on hold and supported himself through
tutoring sessions for nearly nine years. After he completed his education, Kant gained a
position as an uncompensated lecturer at Konigsberg. By 1770, after over a decade at the
university, Kant gained the Chair of Logic and Metaphysics at Konigsberg.

As an adult, Kant lived a somewhat eccentric existence. He never traveled like

many of the other philosophers of the period, purportedly never voyaging more than 40
miles away from Konigsberg in his life. Kant possibly suffered from an unknown
deformity, never growing taller than 5 feet tall. He never showed any interest in women
and followed the exact same daily routines for decades. He read voraciously, covering
topics from history to travel, and he particularly enjoyed English history.

While Kant may have seemed strange and reclusive personally, in the European
philosophical community he was regarded as a genius. He did not publish his first work
until 1781. The highly philosophical work, Critique of Pure Reason, made Kant famous
in Konigsberg as well as in Europe. He went on to publish several more works in the
1780s, mainly on topics pertaining to metaphysics and philosophy. Though all of these
works are excellent in their own right, it was Kant's Critique of Pure Reason which
remains his most important and influential work. In the 1790s, Kant began scaling back
his lecturing as he entered his 70s, and he retired from the university in 1797. He died in
1804 in Konigsberg, two months shy of his 80th birthday.

Reference:
https://study.com/learn/lesson/immanuel-kant-biography-philosophy.html

2. What is Kantian Ethics, where did he stand on the rights theory?

The philosophy Kant laid out in his teachings and writings, most notably in the
Critique of Pure Reason, is some of the more theoretical, yet powerful writing of the
Enlightenment era. Kant's most important contributions to philosophy came in the field of
ethics. Philosophers concerned with ethics in the Enlightenment era spent most of their
time worrying whether there was a basis for human morality outside of the rules of the
church where morality was based on the revealed truth of the Bible. Basically,
philosophers like Kant attempted to reason out for themselves what was right and what
was wrong - or if right and wrong even existed.

Kantian ethics are a set of universal moral principles that apply to all human
beings, regardless of context or situation. Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher, calls
the principles Categorical Imperatives, which are defined by their morality and level of
freedom.

A hypothetical imperative is a moral obligation applicable only in pursuit of a

predetermined goal. For example, a student studies to get good grades. Hypothetical
imperatives are independent of morality. Kant holds that our moral duties are driven by
categorical imperatives. The rules are categorical as they are universally applicable, to
every person, in every situation, regardless of their personal goals and inhibitions. They
are imperative because a human being may be inclined to not adhere to a moral code of
conduct, as it is only human to seek pleasure and reduce pain.

Kant derives a test to determine a categorical imperative. He says, “Act only in

accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it become a
universal law.” It means that an idea can be only be exposed when applied to everyone.
Cheating on a test can only be moral when everyone else’s cheating on a test is justified.
However, in a practical sense, a mass cheating scandal will eradicate trust in the system
of meritocracy, which will lead to a breakdown of educational institutions.

To conclude, cheating on a test is immoral. According to Kantian ethics,

categorical imperatives are counterintuitive in the sense that even though human beings
may be inclined to act in self-interest, their actions must be driven by their duty to
humanity. Kant considered self-improvement and preservation to be an undebatable
obligation that is placed on everyone. Therefore, unproductivity, suicide, or any form of
self-destruction is inherently immoral.

Reeference:
https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/esg/kantian-ethics/