Ética Kanatiana

Kantian ethics refers to a deontological ethical theory developed by German

philosopher Immanuel Kant that is based on the notion that: "It is impossible to think of
anything at all in the world, or indeed even beyond it, that could be considered good without
limitation except a good will." The theory was developed as a result of Enlightenment
rationalism, stating that an action can only be right if its maxim—the principle behind it—
is duty to the moral law, and arises from a sense of duty in the actor.

Central to Kant's construction of the moral law is the categorical imperative, which acts
on all people, regardless of their interests or desires. Kant formulated the categorical
imperative in various ways. His principle of universalizability requires that, for an action
to be permissible, it must be possible to apply it to all people without a contradiction
occurring. Kant's formulation of humanity, the second section of the categorical imperative,
states that as an end in itself, humans are required never to treat others merely as a means to
an end, but always as ends in themselves. The formulation of autonomy concludes that
rational agents are bound to the moral law by their own will, while Kant's concept of the
Kingdom of Ends requires that people act as if the principles of their actions establish a
law for a hypothetical kingdom. Kant also distinguished between perfect and imperfect duties.
Kant used the example of lying as an application of his ethics: because there is a perfect duty
to tell the truth, we must never lie, even if it seems that lying would bring about better
consequences than telling the truth. Likewise, a perfect duty (e.g. the duty not to lie) always
holds true; an imperfect duty (e.g., the duty to give to charity) can be made flexible and
applied in particular time and place.

Those influenced by Kantian ethics include social philosopher Jürgen Habermas, political
philosopher John Rawls, and psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. German philosopher G.
W. F. Hegel criticised Kant for not providing specific enough detail in his moral theory to
affect decision-making and for denying human nature. The Catholic Church has
criticised Kant's ethics as contradictory, and regards Christian ethics as more compatible
with virtue ethics. German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, arguing that ethics
should attempt to describe how people behave, criticised Kant for being prescriptive.
Marcia Baron has defended the theory by arguing that duty does not diminish other
motivations.

The claim that all humans are due dignity and respect as autonomous agents
necessitates that medical professionals should be happy for their treatments to be
performed on anyone, and that patients must never be treated merely as useful for society.
Kant's approach to sexual ethics emerged from his view that humans should never be used
merely as a means to an end, leading him to regard sexual activity as degrading, and to
condemn certain specific sexual practices—for example, extramarital sex. Accordingly,
some feminist philosophers have used Kantian ethics to condemn practices such as
prostitution and pornography, which treat women as means alone. Kant also believed
that, because animals do not possess rationality, we cannot have duties to them except
indirect duties not to develop immoral dispositions through cruelty towards them.

Outline

Although all of Kant's work develops his ethical theory, it is most clearly defined in
Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Critique of Practical Reason, and
Metaphysics of Morals. As part of the Enlightenment tradition, Kant based his ethical
theory on the belief that reason should be used to determine how people ought to act. [1] He
did not attempt to prescribe specific action, but instructed that reason should be used to
determine how to behave.[2]

Good will and Duty

In his combined works, Kant constructed the basis for an ethical law by the concept of duty.
[3]
Kant began his ethical theory by arguing that the only virtue that can be unqualifiedly good
is a good will. No other virtue has this status because every other virtue can be used to
achieve immoral ends (for example, the virtue of loyalty is not good if one is loyal to an evil
person). The good will is unique in that it is always good and maintains its moral value even
when it fails to achieve its moral intentions.[4] Kant regarded the good will as a single moral
principle that freely chooses to use the other virtues for moral ends.[5]

For Kant, a good will is a broader conception than a will that acts from duty. A will that acts
from duty is distinguishable as a will that overcomes hindrances in order to keep the moral
law. A dutiful will is thus a special case of a good will that becomes visible in adverse
conditions. Kant argues that only acts performed with regard to duty have moral worth. This
is not to say that acts performed merely in accordance with duty are worthless (these still
deserve approval and encouragement), but that special esteem is given to acts that are
performed out of duty.[6]

Kant's conception of duty does not entail that people perform their duties grudgingly.
Although duty often constrains people and prompts them to act against their inclinations, it
still comes from an agent's volition: they desire to keep the moral law. Thus, when an agent
performs an action from duty it is because the rational incentives matter to them more than
their opposing inclinations. Kant wished to move beyond the conception of morality as
externally imposed duties, and present an ethics of autonomy, when rational agents freely
recognize the claims reason makes upon them.[7]

Perfect and imperfect duties

Applying the categorical imperative, duties arise because failure to fulfill them would
either result in a contradiction in conception or in a contradiction in the will. The former
are classified as perfect duties, the latter as imperfect. A perfect duty always holds true. Kant
eventually argues that there is in fact only one perfect duty -- The Categorical
Imperative. An imperfect duty allows flexibility—beneficence is an imperfect duty
because we are not obliged to be completely beneficent at all times, but may choose the times
and places in which we are.[8] Kant believed that perfect duties are more important than
imperfect duties: if a conflict between duties arises, the perfect duty must be followed. [9]

Categorical Imperative

Main article: Categorical imperative

The primary formulation of Kant's ethics is the categorical imperative, [10] from which he
derived four further formulations.[11] Kant made a distinction between categorical and
hypothetical imperatives. A hypothetical imperative is one that we must obey if we
want to satisfy our desires: 'go to the doctor' is a hypothetical imperative because we are only
obliged to obey it if we want to get well. A categorical imperative binds us regardless of our
desires: everyone has a duty to not lie, regardless of circumstances and even if it is in our
interest to do so. These imperatives are morally binding because they are based on reason,
rather than contingent facts about an agent. [12] Unlike hypothetical imperatives, which bind us
insofar as we are part of a group or society which we owe duties to, we cannot opt out of the
categorical imperative because we cannot opt out of being rational agents. We owe a duty
to rationality by virtue of being rational agents; therefore, rational moral principles apply to
all rational agents at all times.[13]

Universalizability

Main article: Universalizability

Kant's first formulation of the Categorical Imperative is that of universalizability:[14]

Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should
become a universal law.

— Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785)[15]

When someone acts, it is according to a rule, or maxim. For Kant, an act is only permissible
if one is willing for the maxim that allows the action to be a universal law by which everyone
acts.[15] Maxims fail this test if they produce either a contradiction in conception or a
contradiction in the will when universalized. A contradiction in conception happens when, if a
maxim were to be universalized, it ceases to make sense, because the "maxim would
necessarily destroy itself as soon as it was made a universal law." [16] For example, if the
maxim 'It is permissible to break promises' was universalized, no one would trust any
promises made, so the idea of a promise would become meaningless; the maxim would be
self-contradictory because, when universalized, promises cease to be meaningful. The
maxim is not moral because it is logically impossible to universalize—we could not conceive
of a world where this maxim was universalized.[17]

A maxim can also be immoral if it creates a contradiction in the will when universalized.
This does not mean a logical contradiction, but that universalizing the maxim leads to a state
of affairs that no rational being would desire. For example, Julia Driver argues that the
maxim 'I will not give to charity' produces a contradiction in the will when universalized
because a world where no one gives to charity would be undesirable for the person who acts
by that maxim.[18]

Kant believed that morality is the objective law of reason: just as objective physical laws
necessitate physical actions (e.g., apples fall down because of gravity), objective rational
laws necessitate rational actions. He thus believed that a perfectly rational being must also
be perfectly moral, because a perfectly rational being subjectively finds it necessary to do
what is rationally necessary. Because humans are not perfectly rational (they partly act by
instinct), Kant believed that humans must conform their subjective will with objective
rational laws, which he called conformity obligation.[19] Kant argued that the objective law
of reason is a priori, existing externally from rational being. Just as physical laws exist prior
to physical beings, rational laws (morality) exist prior to rational beings. Therefore, according
to Kant, rational morality is universal and cannot change depending on circumstance.[20]

Some have postulated a similarity between the first formulation of the Categorical Imperative
and the Golden Rule.[21][22] Kant himself criticized the Golden Rule as neither purely formal
nor necessarily universally binding.[23]

Humanity as an end in itself

Main article: Means to an end

Kant's second formulation of the Categorical Imperative is to treat humanity as an end in

itself:

Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of
another, always at the same time as an end and never simply as a means.

— Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785)[24]

Kant argued that rational beings can never be treated merely as means to ends; they must
always also be treated as ends themselves, requiring that their own reasoned motives must be
equally respected. This derives from Kant's claim that reason motivates morality: it
demands that we respect reason as a motive in all beings, including other people. A rational
being cannot rationally consent to be used merely as a means to an end, so they must always
be treated as an end.[25] Kant justified this by arguing that moral obligation is a rational
necessity: that which is rationally willed is morally right. Because all rational agents
rationally will themselves to be an end and never merely a means, it is morally obligatory that
they are treated as such.[26] This does not mean that we can never treat a human as a means to
an end, but that when we do, we also treat them as an end in themselves.[25]

Formula of Autonomy

Kant's formula of autonomy expresses the idea that an agent is obliged to follow the
Categorical Imperative because of their rational will, rather than any outside influence. Kant
believed that any moral law motivated by the desire to fulfill some other interest would deny
the Categorical Imperative, leading him to argue that the moral law must only arise from a
rational will.[27] This principle requires people to recognize the right of others to act
autonomously and means that, as moral laws must be universalizable, what is required of one
person is required of all.[28][29][30]

Kingdom of Ends

Main article: Kingdom of Ends

Another formulation of Kant's Categorical Imperative is the Kingdom of Ends:

A rational being must always regard himself as giving laws either as member or as sovereign
in a kingdom of ends which is rendered possible by the freedom of will.

— Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785)[31]

This formulation requires that actions be considered as if their maxim is to provide a law for
a hypothetical Kingdom of Ends. Accordingly, people have an obligation to act upon
principles that a community of rational agents would accept as laws.[32] In such a
community, each individual would only accept maxims that can govern every member of the
community without treating any member merely as a means to an end. [33] Although the
Kingdom of Ends is an ideal—the actions of other people and events of nature ensure that
actions with good intentions sometimes result in harm—we are still required to act
categorically, as legislators of this ideal kingdom.[34]

Influences on Kantian ethics

Biographer of Kant, Manfred Kuhn, suggested that the values Kant's parents held, of "hard
work, honesty, cleanliness, and independence”, set him an example and influenced him more
than their pietism did. In the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Michael Rohlf
suggests that Kant was influenced by his teacher, Martin Knutzen, himself influenced by
the work of Christian Wolff and John Locke, and who introduced Kant to the work of
English physicist Isaac Newton.[35] Eric Entrican Wilson and Lara Denis emphasize
David Hume's influence on Kant's ethics. Both of them try to reconcile freedom with a
commitment to causal determinism and believe that morality’s foundation is independent
of religion.[36]

Louis Pojman has suggested four strong influences on Kant's ethics:

1. Lutheran Pietism, to which Kant's parents subscribed, emphasised honesty and

moral living over doctrinal belief, more concerned with feeling than rationality.
Kant believed that rationality is required, but that it should be concerned with morality
and good will. Kant's description of moral progress as the turning of inclinations
towards the fulfilment of duty has been described as a version of the Lutheran doctrine
of sanctification.[37]

2. Political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whose Social Contract

influenced Kant's view on the fundamental worth of human beings. Pojman also cites
contemporary ethical debates as influential to the development of Kant's ethics. Kant
favoured rationalism over empiricism, which meant he viewed morality as a form
of knowledge, rather than something based on human desire.

3. Natural law, the belief that the moral law is determined by nature.[38]

4. Intuitionism, the belief that humans have intuitive awareness of objective moral
truths.[38]

Influenced by Kantian ethics

Karl Marx

Philip J. Kain believes that, although Karl Marx rejected many of the ideas and
assumptions found in Kant's ethical writings, his views about universalization are much
like Kant's views about the categorical imperative, and his concept of freedom is similar
to Kant's concept of freedom. Marx has also been influenced by Kant in his theory of
Communist society, which is established by a historical agent that will make possible the
realization of morality.[39]

Jürgen Habermas

(...) whose theory of discourse ethics was influenced by Kantian ethics

German philosopher Jürgen Habermas has proposed a theory of discourse ethics that
he claims is a descendant of Kantian ethics. [40] He proposes that action should be based on
communication between those involved, in which their interests and intentions are
discussed so they can be understood by all. Rejecting any form of coercion or manipulation,
Habermas believes that agreement between the parties is crucial for a moral decision to be
reached.[41] Like Kantian ethics, discourse ethics is a cognitive ethical theory, in that it
supposes that truth and falsity can be attributed to ethical propositions. It also formulates a
rule by which ethical actions can be determined and proposes that ethical actions should be
universalizable, in a similar way to Kant's ethics.[42]

Habermas argues that his ethical theory is an improvement on Kant's, [42] and rejects the
dualistic framework of Kant's ethics. Kant distinguished between the phenomena world,
which can be sensed and experienced by humans, and the noumena, or spiritual world,
which is inaccessible to humans. This dichotomy was necessary for Kant because it could
explain the autonomy of a human agent: although a human is bound in the phenomenal world,
their actions are free in the intelligible world. For Habermas, morality arises from discourse,
which is made necessary by their rationality and needs, rather than their freedom.[43]

Karl Popper

Karl Popper modified Kant's ethics and focused on the subjective dimensions of his moral
theory. Like Kant, Popper believed that morality cannot be derived from human nature and
that moral virtue is not identical to self-interest. He radicalized Kant's conception of
autonomy, eliminating its naturalistic and psychologistic elements. He argued that the
categorical imperative cannot be justified through rational nature or pure motives. Because
Kant presupposed universality and lawfulness that cannot be proven, his transcendental
deduction fails in ethics as in epistemology.[44]

John Rawls

The social contract theory of political philosopher John Rawls, developed in his work
A Theory of Justice, was influenced by Kant's ethics.[45] Rawls argued that a just society
would be fair. To achieve this fairness, he proposed a hypothetical moment prior to the
existence of a society, at which the society is ordered: this is the original position. This
should take place from behind a veil of ignorance, where no one knows what their own
position in society will be, preventing people from being biased by their own interests and
ensuring a fair result.[46] Rawls' theory of justice rests on the belief that individuals are free,
equal, and moral; he regarded all human beings as possessing some degree of reasonableness
and rationality, which he saw as the constituents of morality and entitling their possessors to
equal justice. Rawls dismissed much of Kant's dualisms, arguing that the structure of Kantian
ethics, once reformulated, is clearer without them—he described this as one of the goals of A
Theory of Justice.[47]

Jacques Lacan

French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan linked psychoanalysis with Kantian ethics in his
works The Ethics of Psychoanalysis and Kant avec Sade, comparing Kant with the
Marquis de Sade.[48] Lacan argued that Sade's maxim of jouissance—the pursuit of
sexual pleasure or enjoyment—is morally acceptable by Kant's criteria because it can be
universalised. He proposed that, while Kant presented human freedom as critical to the moral
law, Sade further argued that human freedom is only fully realised through the maxim of
jouissance.[49]

Thomas Nagel

Thomas Nagel has been highly influential in the related fields of moral and political
philosophy. Supervised by John Rawls, Nagel has been a long-standing proponent of a
Kantian and rationalist approach to moral philosophy. His distinctive ideas were first
presented in the short monograph The Possibility of Altruism, published in 1970. That
book seeks by reflection on the nature of practical reasoning to uncover the formal
principles that underlie reason in practice and the related general beliefs about the self that are
necessary for those principles to be truly applicable to us.

Nagel defends motivated desire theory about the motivation of moral action. According to
motivated desire theory, when a person is motivated to moral action it is indeed true that such
actions are motivated—like all intentional actions—by a belief and a desire. But it is
important to get the justificatory relations right: when a person accepts a moral judgment he
or she is necessarily motivated to act. But it is the reason that does the justificatory work of
justifying both the action and the desire. Nagel contrasts this view with a rival view which
believes that a moral agent can only accept that he or she has a reason to act if the desire to
carry out the action has an independent justification. An account based on presupposing
sympathy would be of this kind.[50]

The most striking claim of the book is that there is a very close parallel between prudential
reasoning in one's own interests and moral reasons to act to further the interests of another
person. When one reasons prudentially, for example about the future reasons that one will
have, one allows the reason in the future to justify one's current action without reference to
the strength of one's current desires. If a hurricane were to destroy someone's car next year at
that point he will want his insurance company to pay him to replace it: that future reason gives
him a reason, now, to take out insurance. The strength of the reason ought not to be hostage to
the strength of one's current desires. The denial of this view of prudence, Nagel argues, means
that one does not really believe that one is one and the same person through time. One is
dissolving oneself into distinct person-stages.[51]

Contemporary Kantian ethicists

Onora O'Neill

Philosopher Onora O'Neill, who studied under John Rawls at Harvard University, is
a contemporary Kantian ethicist who supports a Kantian approach to issues of social justice.
O'Neill argues that a successful Kantian account of social justice must not rely on any
unwarranted idealizations or assumption. She notes that philosophers have previously charged
Kant with idealizing humans as autonomous beings, without any social context or life goals,
though maintains that Kant's ethics can be read without such an idealization.[52] O'Neill
prefers Kant's conception of reason as practical and available to be used by humans, rather
than as principles attached to every human being. Conceiving of reason as a tool to make
decisions with means that the only thing able to restrain the principles we adopt is that they
could be adopted by all. If we cannot will that everyone adopts a certain principle, then we
cannot give them reasons to adopt it. To use reason, and to reason with other people, we must
reject those principles that cannot be universally adopted. In this way, O'Neill reached Kant's
formulation of universalisability without adopting an idealistic view of human autonomy. [53]
This model of universalisability does not require that we adopt all universalisable principles,
but merely prohibits us from adopting those that are not.[54]

From this model of Kantian ethics, O'Neill begins to develop a theory of justice. She argues
that the rejection of certain principles, such as deception and coercion, provides a starting
point for basic conceptions of justice, which she argues are more determinate for human
beings that the more abstract principles of equality or liberty. Nevertheless, she concedes
that these principles may seem to be excessively demanding: there are many actions and
institutions that do rely on non-universalisable principles, such as injury.[55]

Marcia Baron

In his paper "The Schizophrenia of Modern Ethical Theories ", philosopher Michael
Stocker challenges Kantian ethics (and all modern ethical theories) by arguing that actions
from duty lack certain moral value. He gives the example of Smith, who visits his friend in
hospital out of duty, rather than because of the friendship; he argues that this visit seems
morally lacking because it is motivated by the wrong thing.[56]

Marcia Baron has attempted to defend Kantian ethics on this point. After presenting a
number of reasons that we might find acting out of duty objectionable, she argues that these
problems only arise when people misconstrue what their duty is. Acting out of duty is not
intrinsically wrong, but immoral consequences can occur when people misunderstand what
they are duty-bound to do. Duty need not be seen as cold and impersonal: one may have a
duty to cultivate their character or improve their personal relationships. [57] Baron further
argues that duty should be construed as a secondary motive—that is, a motive that regulates
and sets conditions on what may be done, rather than prompt specific actions. She argues that,
seen this way, duty neither reveals a deficiency in one's natural inclinations to act, nor
undermines the motives and feelings that are essential to friendship. For Baron, being
governed by duty does not mean that duty is always the primary motivation to act; rather, it
entails that considerations of duty are always action-guiding. A responsible moral agent
should take an interest in moral questions, such as questions of character. These should guide
moral agents to act from duty.[58]

Criticisms of Kantian ethics

Friedrich Schiller

While Friedrich Schiller appreciated Kant for basing the source of morality on a person's
reason rather than on God, he also criticized Kant for not going far enough in the conception
of autonomy, as the internal constraint of reason would also take away a person's autonomy
by going against their sensuous self. Schiller introduced the concept of the "beautiful soul," in
which the rational and non-rational elements within a person are in such harmony that a
person can be led entirely by his sensibility and inclinations. "Grace" is the expression in
appearance of this harmony. However, given that humans are not naturally virtuous, it is in
exercising control over the inclinations and impulses through moral strength that a person
displays "dignity." Schiller's main implied criticism of Kant is that the latter only saw dignity
while grace is ignored.[59]

Kant responded to Schiller in a footnote that appears in Religion within the Bounds of
Bare Reason. While he admits that the concept of duty can only be associated with dignity,
gracefulness is also allowed by the virtuous individual as he attempts to meet the demands of
the moral life courageously and joyously.[60]

Portrait of G. W. F. Hegel

German philosopher G. W. F. Hegel presented two main criticisms of Kantian ethics. He

first argued that Kantian ethics provides no specific information about what people should do
because Kant's moral law is solely a principle of non-contradiction.[2] He argued that
Kant's ethics lack any content and so cannot constitute a supreme principle of morality. To
illustrate this point, Hegel and his followers have presented a number of cases in which the
Formula of Universal Law either provides no meaningful answer or gives an obviously wrong
answer. Hegel used Kant's example of being trusted with another man's money to argue that
Kant's Formula of Universal Law cannot determine whether a social system of property is a
morally good thing, because either answer can entail contradictions. He also used the example
of helping the poor: if everyone helped the poor, there would be no poor left to help, so
beneficence would be impossible if universalised, making it immoral according to Kant's
model.[61] Hegel's second criticism was that Kant's ethics forces humans into an internal
conflict between reason and desire. For Hegel, it is unnatural for humans to suppress their
desire and subordinate it to reason. This means that, by not addressing the tension between
self-interest and morality, Kant's ethics cannot give humans any reason to be moral.[62]

Arthur Schopenhauer

German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer criticised Kant's belief that ethics should
concern what ought to be done, insisting that the scope of ethics should be to attempt to
explain and interpret what actually happens. Whereas Kant presented an idealized version of
what ought to be done in a perfect world, Schopenhauer argued that ethics should instead be
practical and arrive at conclusions that could work in the real world, capable of being
presented as a solution to the world's problems. [63] Schopenhauer drew a parallel with
aesthetics, arguing that in both cases prescriptive rules are not the most important part of the
discipline. Because he believed that virtue cannot be taught—a person is either virtuous or is
not—he cast the proper place of morality as restraining and guiding people's behavior, rather
than presenting unattainable universal laws.[64]

Friedrich Nietzsche

Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche criticised all contemporary moral systems, with a special
focus on Christian and Kantian ethics. He argued that all modern ethical systems share two
problematic characteristics: first, they make a metaphysical claim about the nature of
humanity, which must be accepted for the system to have any normative force; and second,
the system benefits the interests of certain people, often over those of others. Although
Nietzsche's primary objection is not that metaphysical claims about humanity are untenable
(he also objected to ethical theories that do not make such claims), his two main targets—
Kantianism and Christianity—do make metaphysical claims, which therefore feature
prominently in Nietzsche's criticism.[65]

Nietzsche rejected fundamental components of Kant's ethics, particularly his argument that
morality, God, and immorality, can be shown through reason. Nietzsche cast suspicion on the
use of moral intuition, which Kant used as the foundation of his morality, arguing that it has
no normative force in ethics. He further attempted to undermine key concepts in Kant's moral
psychology, such as the will and pure reason. Like Kant, Nietzsche developed a concept of
autonomy; however, he rejected Kant's idea that valuing our own autonomy requires us to
respect the autonomy of others.[66] A naturalist reading of Nietzsche's moral psychology
stands contrary to Kant's conception of reason and desire. Under the Kantian model, reason is
a fundamentally different motive to desire because it has the capacity to stand back from a
situation and make an independent decision. Nietzsche conceives of the self as a social
structure of all our different drives and motivations; thus, when it seems that our intellect has
made a decision against our drives, it is actually just an alternative drive taking dominance
over another. This is in direct contrast with Kant's view of the intellect as opposed to instinct;
instead, it is just another instinct. There is thus no self-capable of standing back and making a
decision; the decision the self-makes is simply determined by the strongest drive. [67] Kantian
commentators have argued that Nietzsche's practical philosophy requires the existence of a
self capable of standing back in the Kantian sense. For an individual to create values of their
own, which is a key idea in Nietzsche's philosophy, they must be able to conceive of
themselves as a unified agent. Even if the agent is influenced by their drives, he must regard
them as his own, which undermines Nietzsche's conception of autonomy.[68]

John Stuart Mill

The Utilitarian philosopher John Stuart Mill criticizes Kant for not realizing that moral
laws are justified by a moral intuition based on utilitarian principles (that the greatest good for
the greatest number ought to be sought). Mill argued that Kant's ethics could not explain why
certain actions are wrong without appealing to utilitarianism. [69] As basis for morality, Mill
believed that his principle of utility has a stronger intuitive grounding than Kant's reliance on
reason, and can better explain why certain actions are right or wrong.[70]

Jean-Paul Sartre

Jean-Paul Sartre rejects the central Kantian idea that moral action consists in obeying
abstractly knowable maxims which are true independently of situation, that is, independent of
historical, social, and political time and place. He believes that although the possible, and
therefore the universal, is a necessary component of action, any moral theory which ignores or
denies the peculiar mode of existence or condition of persons would stand self-condemned.[71]

Michel Foucault
Although Michel Foucault calls himself a descendant of the tradition of critical
philosophy established by Kant, he rejects Kant’s attempt to place all rational conditions
and constraints in the subject.[72]

Virtue ethics

Virtue ethics is a form of ethical theory which emphasizes the character of an agent, rather
than specific acts; many of its proponents have criticised Kant's deontological approach to
ethics. Elizabeth Anscombe criticised modern ethical theories, including Kantian ethics,
for their obsession with law and obligation.[73] As well as arguing that theories which rely on a
universal moral law are too rigid, Anscombe suggested that, because a moral law implies a
moral lawgiver, they are irrelevant in modern secular society.[74]

In his work After Virtue, Alasdair MacIntyre criticises Kant's formulation of

universalisability, arguing that various trivial and immoral maxims can pass the test, such as
"Keep all your promises throughout your entire life except one." He further challenges Kant's
formulation of humanity as an end in itself by arguing that Kant provided no reason to treat
others as means: the maxim "Let everyone except me be treated as a means," though
seemingly immoral, can be universalized. [75] Bernard Williams argues that, by abstracting
persons from character, Kant misrepresents persons and morality and Philippa Foot
identified Kant as one of a select group of philosophers responsible for the neglect of virtue
by analytic philosophy.[76]

Christian ethics

Roman Catholic priest Servais Pinckaers regarded Christian ethics as closer to the
virtue ethics of Aristotle than Kant's ethics. He presented virtue ethics as freedom for
excellence, which regards freedom as acting in accordance with nature to develop one's
virtues. Initially, this requires following rules—but the intention is that the agent develop
virtuously, and regard acting morally as a joy. This is in contrast with freedom of indifference,
which Pinckaers attributes to William Ockham and likens to Kant. On this view, freedom
is set against nature: free actions are those not determined by passions or emotions. There is
no development or progress in an agent's virtue, merely the forming of habit. This is closer to
Kant's view of ethics, because Kant's conception of autonomy requires that an agent is not
merely guided by their emotions, and is set in contrast with Pinckaer's conception of Christian
ethics.[77]

Autonomy

A number of philosophers (including Elizabeth Anscombe, Jean Bethke Elshtain,

Servais Pinckaers, Iris Murdoch, and Kevin Knight)[78] have all suggested that the
Kantian conception of ethics rooted in autonomy is contradictory in its dual contention that
humans are co-legislators of morality and that morality is a priori. They argue that if
something is universally a priori (i.e., existing unchangingly prior to experience), then it
cannot also be in part dependent upon humans, who have not always existed. On the other
hand, if humans truly do legislate morality, then they are not bound by it objectively, because
they are always free to change it.

This objection seems to rest on a misunderstanding of Kant's views since Kant argued that
morality is dependent upon the concept of a rational will (and the related concept of a
categorical imperative: an imperative which any rational being must necessarily will for
itself).[79] It is not based on contingent features of any being's will, nor upon human wills in
particular, so there is no sense in which Kant makes ethics "dependent" upon anything which
has not always existed. Furthermore, the sense in which our wills are subject to the law is
precisely that if our wills are rational, we must will in a lawlike fashion; that is, we must will
according to moral judgments we apply to all rational beings, including ourselves. [80] This is
more easily understood by parsing the term "autonomy" into its Greek roots: auto (self) +
nomos (rule or law). That is, an autonomous will, according to Kant, is not merely one which
follows its own will, but whose will is lawful-that is, conforming to the principle of
universalizability, which Kant also identifies with reason. Ironically, in another passage,
willing according to immutable reason is precisely the kind of capacity Elshtain ascribes to
God as the basis of his moral authority, and she commands this over an inferior voluntarist
version of divine command theory, which would make both morality and God's will
contingent.[81] As O'Neill argues, Kant's theory is a version of the first rather than the second
view of autonomy, so neither God nor any human authority, including contingent human
institutions, play any unique authoritative role in his moral theory. Kant and Elshtain, that is,
both agree God has no choice but to conform his will to the immutable facts of reason,
including moral truths; humans do have such a choice, but otherwise their relationship to
morality is the same as that of God's: they can recognize moral facts, but do not determine
their content through contingent acts of will.

Applications

Medical ethics

Kant believed that the shared ability of humans to reason should be the basis of morality, and
that it is the ability to reason that makes humans morally significant. He, therefore, believed
that all humans should have the right to common dignity and respect. [82] Margaret L. Eaton
argues that, according to Kant's ethics, a medical professional must be happy for their own
practices to be used by and on anyone, even if they were the patient themselves. For example,
a researcher who wished to perform tests on patients without their knowledge must be happy
for all researchers to do so. [83] She also argues that Kant's requirement of autonomy would
mean that a patient must be able to make a fully informed decision about treatment,
making it immoral to perform tests on unknowing patients. Medical research should be
motivated out of respect for the patient, so they must be informed of all facts, even if this
would be likely to dissuade the patient.[84]

Jeremy Sugarman has argued that Kant's formulation of autonomy requires that patients
are never used merely for the benefit of society, but are always treated as rational people with
their own goals.[85] Aaron E. Hinkley notes that a Kantian account of autonomy requires
respect for choices that are arrived at rationally, not for choices which are arrived at by
idiosyncratic or non-rational means. He argues that there may be some difference between
what a purely rational agent would choose and what a patient actually chooses, the difference
being the result of non-rational idiosyncrasies. Although a Kantian physician ought not to lie
to or coerce a patient, Hinkley suggests that some form of paternalism—such as through
withholding information which may prompt a non-rational response—could be acceptable.[86]

Abortion

In How Kantian Ethics Should Treat Pregnancy and Abortion, Susan Feldman argues that
abortion should be defended according to Kantian ethics. She proposes that a woman should
be treated as a dignified autonomous person, with control over their body, as Kant
suggested. She believes that the free choice of women would be paramount in Kantian
ethics, requiring abortion to be the mother's decision.[87]
Dean Harris has noted that, if Kantian ethics is to be used in the discussion of abortion, it
must be decided whether a fetus is an autonomous person.[88] Kantian ethicist Carl Cohen
argues that the potential to be rational or participation in a generally rational species is the
relevant distinction between humans and inanimate objects or irrational animals. Cohen
believes that even when humans are not rational because of age (such as babies or fetuses) or
mental disability, agents are still morally obligated to treat them as an ends in
themselves, equivalent to a rational adult such as a mother seeking an abortion.[89]

Sexual ethics

Kant viewed humans as being subject to the animalistic desires of self-preservation,

species-preservation, and the preservation of enjoyment. He argued that humans have a duty
to avoid maxims that harm or degrade themselves, including suicide, sexual degradation, and
drunkenness.[90] This led Kant to regard sexual intercourse as degrading because it
reduces humans to an object of pleasure. He admitted sex only within marriage, which he
regarded as "a merely animal union." He believed that masturbation is worse than suicide,
reducing a person's status to below that of an animal; he argued that rape should be punished
with castration and that bestiality requires expulsion from society.[91]

Commercial sex

Feminist philosopher Catharine MacKinnon has argued that many contemporary

practices would be deemed immoral by Kant's standards because they dehumanize women.
Sexual harassment, prostitution, and pornography, she argues, objectify women
and do not meet Kant's standard of human autonomy. Commercial sex has been criticised for
turning both parties into objects (and thus using them as a means to an end); mutual
consent is problematic because in consenting, people choose to objectify themselves. Alan
Soble has noted that more liberal Kantian ethicists believe that, depending on other
contextual factors, the consent of women can vindicate their participation in pornography and
prostitution.[92]

Animal ethics

Because Kant viewed rationality as the basis for being a moral patient—one due moral
consideration—he believed that animals have no moral rights. Animals, according to Kant,
are not rational, thus one cannot behave immorally towards them. [93] Although he did not
believe we have any duties towards animals, Kant did believe being cruel to them was
wrong because our behaviour might influence our attitudes toward human beings: if we
become accustomed to harming animals, then we are more likely to see harming humans as
acceptable.[94]

Ethicist Tom Regan rejected Kant's assessment of the moral worth of animals on three main
points: First, he rejected Kant's claim that animals are not self-conscious. He then
challenged Kant's claim that animals have no intrinsic moral worth because they cannot make
a moral judgment. Regan argued that, if a being's moral worth is determined by its ability to
make a moral judgment, then we must regard humans who are incapable of moral thought as
being equally undue moral consideration. Regan finally argued that Kant's assertion that
animals exist merely as a means to an end is unsupported; the fact that animals have a life that
can go well or badly suggests that, like humans, they have their own ends.[95]

Christine Korsgaard has reinterpreted Kantian theory to argue that animal rights are
implied by his moral principles.[96]

Lying

Kant believed that the Categorical Imperative provides us with the maxim that we ought not
to lie in any circumstances, even if we are trying to bring about good consequences, such as
lying to a murderer to prevent them from finding their intended victim. Kant argued that,
because we cannot fully know what the consequences of any action will be, the result might
be unexpectedly harmful. Therefore, we ought to act to avoid the known wrong—lying—
rather than to avoid a potential wrong. If there are harmful consequences, we are blameless
because we acted according to our duty. [97] Driver argues that this might not be a problem if
we choose to formulate our maxims differently: the maxim 'I will lie to save an innocent life'
can be universalized. However, this new maxim may still treat the murderer as a means to an
end, which we have a duty to avoid doing. Thus we may still be required to tell the truth to the
murderer in Kant's example.[98]

References

1.

 Brinton 1967, p. 519.

  Singer 1983, pp. 42.

  Blackburn 2008, p. 240.

  Benn 1998, pp. 101–102.

  Guyer 2011, p. 194.

  Wood 1999, p. 26-27.

  Wood 1999, p. 37.

  Driver 2007, p. 92.

  Driver 2007, p. 93.

  Hill 2009, p. 3.

  Wood 2008, p. 67.

  Driver 2007, p. 83.

  Johnson 2008.

  Driver 2007, p. 87.

  Rachels 1999, p. 124.

  Kant, Immanuel. [1785] 1879. Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of

Morals, translated by T. K. Abbott. p. 55.

  Driver 2007, p. 88.

  Driver 2007, pp. 89–90.

  Kant, Immanuel (1785). Thomas Kingsmill Abbott (ed.). Fundamental Principles

of the Metaphysic of Morals (10 ed.). Project Gutenberg. p. 39.

  Kant, Immanuel (1785). Thomas Kingsmill Abbott (ed.). Fundamental Principles

of the Metaphysic of Morals (10 ed.). Project Gutenberg. p. 35.

  Palmer 2005, pp. 221–2.

  Hirst 1934, pp. 328–335.

  Walker & Walker 2018.

  Driver 2007, p. 90.

  Benn 1998, p. 95.

  Kant, Immanuel (1785). Thomas Kingsmill Abbott (ed.). Fundamental Principles

of the Metaphysic of Morals (10 ed.). Project Gutenberg. pp. 60–62.

  Kant & Paton 1991, p. 34.

  Kant 1788, Book 1, Ch. 1, §1.

  Kant 1785, Section 1, §17.

  Sullivan 1989, p. 165.

  Kant 1785, §2.

  Johnson 2008.

  Atwell 1986, p. 152.

  Korsgaard 1996, p. 24.

  Rohlf 2010.

  Wilson & Denis.

  Hare 2011, p. 62.

  Pojman 2008, p. 122.

  Kain, Philip, pp. 277–301.

  Payrow Shabani 2003, p. 53.

  Collin 2007, p. 78.

  Payrow Shabani 2003, p. 54.

  Payrow Shabani 2003, pp. 55–56.

  Hacohen 2002, p. 511.

  Richardson, 2005.

  Freeman 2019.

  Brooks & Freyenhagen 2005, pp. 155–156.

  Martyn 2003, p. 171.

  Scott Lee 1991, p. 167.

  Pyka 2005, pp. 85–95.

  Liu 2012, pp.93–119.

  O'Neill 2000, p. 75.

  O'Neill 2000, pp. 76–77.

  O'Neill 2000, p. 77.

  O'Neill 2000, pp. 78–79.

  Stocker 1976, p. 462.

  Baron 1999, pp. 120–123.

  Baron 1999, pp. 131–132.

  Stern 2012, pp. 109–121.

  Stern 2012, pp. 130–131.

  Brooks 2012, p. 75.

  Singer 1983, pp. 44–45.

  Manninon 2003, pp. 101–102.

  Janaway 2002, p. 88.

  Leiter 2004.

  Janaway & Robertson 2012, pp. 202–204.

  Janaway & Robertson 2012, p. 205.

  Janaway & Robertson 2012, p. 206.

  Ellis 1998, p. 76.

  Miller 2013 p. 110.

  Linsenbard 2007, pp. 65–68.

  Robinson n.d.

  Anscombe 1958, pp. 1–19.

  Athanassoulis 2010.

  MacIntyre 2013, pp. 54–55.

  Louden 2011, p. 4.

  Pinckaers 2003, pp. 67–75.

  Anscombe, 1958, p.2; Elshtain, 2008, p. 258, note 22; Pinckaers 2003, p. 48; Murdoch,
1970, p.80; Knight 2009.

  Immanuel Kant, 1786, p. 35.

  O’Neill, 2000, 43.

  Elshtain, 2008, 260 note 75.

  Eaton 2004, p. 39.

  Eaton 2004, p. 40.

  Eaton 2004, pp. 40–41.

  Sugarman 2010, p. 44.

  Engelhardt 2011, pp. 12–13.

  Kneller & Axinn 1998, pp. 265–266.

  Harris 2011, p. 15.

  Carl Cohen 1986, pp. 865–869.

  Denis 1999, p. 225.

  Wood 1999, p. 2.

  Soble 2006, 549.

  Driver 2007, p. 97.

  Driver 2007, p. 98.

  Regan 2004, p. 178.

  Korsgaard 2004; Korsgaard 2015, pp. 154–174; Pietrzykowski 2015, pp. 106–119.

  Rachels 1999, p. 128.

98.  Driver 2007, p. 96.

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