Giorkis Hadjivasili

Professor Burleson

PHIL 1312 1

30 April 2023

Kant, Morality, and I

Ethical Theories are a way of showing a clear view of what our ethical obligations are

in the real world. Through the years various theories appeared from many philosophers such

as altruism, cultural relativism, ethical egoism, hedonism, consequentialism, and

utilitarianism. These are all great in their own way and have their own story of showing

ethics but the one that stands out to me the most is Kantianism, which is a deontological type

of ethical theory derived by philosopher Immanuel Kant. This moral premise by Kant

determines if an action to be good or bad by a clear set of rules. With these rules being so

clear and straight forward it is therefore simple to determine the right choice to make in many

situations. Personally, I live by this theory, using it in my professional and personal life. Of

course, just like everything in this world, Kantianism is not always bulletproof in terms of

having only pros and no cons, since it comes with its own set of disadvantages. In this paper,

I will be discussing how Kant argues the rationality behind ethical acts, showing his theory’s

applicability as well as its flaws in life situations. Furthermore, I will go over the meaning it

has for me today along with its role in my future career.

Now, what are Kantian Ethics exactly? Firstly, Kantianism is a form of deontology,

which can be defined by Merriam-Webster as “the theory or study of moral obligation”,

which also comes from the Greek word “deon” meaning duty (Deontology, Merriam-

Webster). This is important to consider as according to Kant, our morality does not rely on

what we desire to do but rather what we must do as our moral duty. That is why he set his
own set of rules or commands to when it comes to making moral decisions, calling them

categorical imperatives. There are four different “instructions”, when it comes to Kantian

Ethics, however I will go over the two I apply most in my personal and professional life

(Green, Nerd Fighteria).

Do you think everyone in the world should always steal? Or do you believe everyone

in the world should always lie? Everyone, no matter their belief or religion, can agree that the

answer to these questions would be no, as the time of civilization would end and there would

be no point of doing anything such as starting a business when someone is just going to steal

whatever you try and sell. Understanding this is basically the idea of Kant’s first imperative

which states that “Act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same

time will that it become a universal law.” (Deontology, Chapman). In simple English it says

that you should only take an action if everyone around the globe would agree without any

contradiction, which takes stealing, lying, and killing out of the picture. This is a deciding

factor when taking on world problems such as the death penalty or even abortion which when

you follow Kantian Ethics would be an easy choice as not everyone would agree that taking

someone’s life under any circumstance is the right moral decision to take.

Going on to the second categorical imperative, which is the one I believe I stick to the

most in my professional life, is treating people with respect and never using them as an object

to get something you want. As Kant states “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.” (Deontology, Chapman). Meaning never take

someone for granted and forget they are their own person with their own personality. I

personally find this second imperative essential in someone trying to run their own business

or have anything to do with a professional career. Having a good, honest, and trustworthy

relationship with your clients, suppliers, business partners or even your personnel is always a
sign that a company or business venture will be successful and have built a strong core of

people motivated to do the right thing. Following this idea will also be beneficial to

someone’s networking and social circle which is another reason why I try to follow these

moral rules and guidelines.

One thing Kant stands by is that all humans are realistically self-governing and can

use their own intellect to make their own decisions. Together with radical egalitarianism

where either you are rich or poor, gifted intellectually or not, or even born healthy or born

with disabilities, we are all equal in a way (pg94, Wood). What it comes down to is people

realizing this and being able to make moral decisions based on their pure, basic intellect and

understanding of the situation. When you take into account what the circumstances are, the

people who are affected as individual human beings, then you will have a positive and

healthy morale because whatever answer we might be looking for already exists within each

one of us.

The past few years I have been trying my best to implement this mentality into my

own thinking process. The mentality of when a dilemma in my life occurs to first look for the

answer within myself before going straight away to someone else and most of the times this

has been heavily beneficial. Since I was young, I would always look up to my father for my

problems and he would just go ahead and help before I had the time to figure it out myself.

Specifically, this one time I was mowing the lawn and the lawn mower broke down. Instead

of even attempting to discover the issue at hand I ran to my father for assistance. At the end

of the day, it was as simple as adding some engine oil to the tank, which had me upset. How

could that thought not pass my mind? Days, months, and eventually years passed with me

asking myself that same question but recently it came to me. Me always doing all the grunt

work without putting some thought into it or even taking my own intellect or personality into

account took a huge toll on my morale. Kantian Ethics rely on people themselves to realize
what the correct moral action is to take according to a clear set of rules. This straightforward

yet complex ethical theory helped me to find myself and finally stop looking for an answer to

problems elsewhere before I first challenge myself to interpret the situation, look at the

variables, and take a thoughtful decision.

Using Kantian Ethics currently through my college experience studying abroad has

been really mind opening but got me thinking how I can hopefully interpret them into my

future career as well. Kant’s words and moral rules can even be considered in extreme

situations such as the known trolley experiment where five people are tied on trolley tracks

and an out of control 35,000-pound machine is going full speed at them and you have the

option to divert the track and save the five by slaughtering one other (Deontology, Chapman).

Kant says this is okay because you are not using that one person as a mere means to an end,

yet they just happened to be there. This is the extreme side of the argument but how does this

apply to someone’s daily life? For example, my desired future career is owning and running

my own business where I must deal with suppliers, clients, and employees. Implementing this

idea of treating people as their own person with meaning rather than an object and a simple

mere means to an end would be in my company’s morale as I believe it could prove to be

fruitful in a healthy startup of any business venture. Finally, I would also use Kant’s first

categorical imperative of universalizability. I would do my best not to lie to anyone I work

with, including customers, business partners, and employees as I would not want anyone else

doing that to me.

Now even though I prefer to follow Kantianism in my own life does not mean by any

means that it is perfect, and it is the one everyone should follow. Personally, I disagree with

some parts of it when it comes to extreme situations and use my own intellect to decide when

to do what. And that is the beauty of ethical theories. They exist only to teach and show us

the world from a different set of eyes just so we can understand morals in depth and choose
for ourselves what is right and wrong. Kantian Ethics is the moral path I chose, yet I can

always take time to sidetrack a little bit as long as I am heading towards the same direction.

What that direction is you may ask? Well, that is yet to be decided as I still feel and know

that I have plenty to learn.

 Works Cited
“Deontology.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/deontology. Accessed 21 Apr. 2023.

Wood, Allen W. “5.” Kantian Ethics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York,
2011.

Green, Hank. “Kant & Categorical Imperative.” Nerdfighteria, 14 Nov. 2016,

https://nerdfighteria.info/v/8bIys6JoEDw/.

1000wordphilosophy, ~. “Deontology: Kantian Ethics.” 1000, 12 Mar. 2023,

https://1000wordphilosophy.com/2014/06/09/introduction-to-deontology-kantian-
ethics/#_ftn8.