Kantian Ethics

By: Immanuel Kant

Introduction: The Good Will
“Nothing can possibly be conceived in the world, or
even out of it, which can be called good without
qualification, except a good will.” In order for
something to be good “without qualification” it must
not be merely “good” as a means to an end but “bad”
as a means to some other end. Kant’s point is that to
be universally and absolutely good, something must
be good in every instance of its occurrence. ( From
https://www.ethicssage.com/2017/06/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-person-of-good-will.html)
Introduction: The Good Will
To act of a “good will” means to act out of a sense of
moral obligation or “duty.” In other words, the moral
agent does a particular action not because of what it
produces (its consequences) in terms of human
experience, but because the agent recognizes by
reasoning that it is the morally right thing to do and,
consequently, there is a moral duty or obligation to
do that action.
( From https://www.ethicssage.com/2017/06/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-person-of-good-
will.html)
Universalizability
 What does it mean to think using our pure reason?
 To follow a certain method or procedure of using pure
reason.
SUBSTANTIVE MORAL THEORY FORMAL MORAL THEORY
 content-based  form-based
 It tells “what”  It tells “how”
 It immediately  It provides framework
promulgates specific (procedures and criteria) in
action in a straightforward determining for oneself the
and explicit manner. rules and commands.
Universalizability
 CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE – is an unconditional or
absolute command for all rational agents the validity
of which does not depend on motives or consequences.
 Contrasts with hypothetical imperative whose validity
depends on the acceptance of the condition.
CATEGORICAL HYPOTHETICAL
 Honor thy parents.  Honor thy parents if you
want to have inheritance.

 Thou shall not steal.  Do not steal if you want to

be popular
Universalizability

 MAXIM – a subjective principle of action that human

beings normally live by in their day-to-day life (SOP).
 E.g.: I pray every morning, I don’t let the morning pass
without a cup of coffee, I usually make things more
difficult for my students because rough seas make a
skillful sailor.
Universalizability
 UNIVERSAL LAW – to will that the action can become a
universal law means that the action is universalizable.
 UNIVERSALIZABILITY – the potential of an action to be logically
plausible to be followed as a rule/law by anyone and everyone
put in the same situation.
 LOGICAL PLAUSIBILITY – a state where an idea/concept can
exist without self-contradiction. Self-contradiction is otherwise
called logical/performative impossibility. E.g., square
circle, “This statement is false.”, “Nothing is absolutely
true.”, atheist wearing a cross, “You can wear any color
of shoes as long as it is black.”, “I am dead.”
Universalizability
UNIVERSALIZABLE NON-UNIVERSALIZABLE
 Self-consistent  Self-contradictory
 Logically coherent  Logically impossible
 Rationally permissible  Rationally impermissible
 MORALLY RIGHT  MORALLY WRONG
 Borrowing money with an  Borrowing money without an
intention to pay. intention to pay
 Helping those in need  Running away from an
involved vehicular accident
What is the connection between
morality and categorical imperatives?

 Moralitymust be based on the

categorical imperative because
morality is such that you are
commanded by it, and is such that you
cannot opt out of it or claim that it
does not apply to you.
Second Formulation: Humanity
Formula
 “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”
 Kant is here suggesting that anyone who is
committed to rationality is also committed to
treating other people “as ends in themselves” and
not as pawns in one’s own game of personal
advantage.
“Recognition respect” by Darwall, better
captures Kant’s position:
I may respect you because you are a student, a
Dean, a doctor or a mother. In such cases of
respecting you because of who or what you
are, I am giving the proper regard to a certain
fact about you, your being a Student for
instance. This sort of respect, unlike appraisal
respect, is not a matter of degree based on
your having measured up to some standard of
assessment.
 Respect for the humanity in persons is more like
a recognition respect. We are to respect human
beings simply because they are persons and this
requires a certain sort of regard. We are not
called on to respect them insofar as they have
met some standard of evaluation appropriate to
persons. And, crucially for Kant, persons cannot
lose their humanity by their misdeeds – even the
most vicious persons, Kant thought, deserve
basic respect as persons with humanity, i.e. even
Adolf Hitler deserves respect as a human being
as a person.
Third Formulation: The autonomy
formula

 “the Idea of the will of every rational

being as a will that legislates
universal law.”
 Act so that through your maxims you
could be a legislator of universal laws
 Thissounds very similar to the first formulation.
However, in this case we focus on our status as
universal law givers rather than universal
law followers. This is of course the source of the
very dignity of humanity Kant speaks of in the
second formulation. A rational will that is merely
bound by universal laws could act accordingly
from natural and non-moral motives, such as
self-interest. But in order to be a legislator of
universal laws, such contingent motives, motives
that rational agents such as ourselves may or
may not have, must be set aside.
Synthesis

 Tooversimplify the ethical theory of

Kant, we can say that we have to use
our reason plus the golden rule =
Always think that you will do what you
want that others will do unto you.