Kantian Ethics

By: Immanuel Kant

Introduction
 What is ethics? = It is the study of the morality of
human actions.
 But what is morality of human actions? = it is
whether an action is right or wrong/ Good or bad?
 Right or wrong actions = when actions do or do not
follow a norm/standard.
 Good or bad actions = when actions do or do not
fulfil an end/purpose (Norm).
 Introduction
 Ethicsis the morality of human actions.
 What are human actions?
ACTS of Man VERSUS Human ACTS
Non-voluntary Voluntary Acts
Standing* Studying
Closing and opening of eyes Peeping through the window
Coughing Coughing*
Taking something* Stealing
Introduction
 What are norms or standards where we based
the morality of human actions?
 These are established practices, ideas, theories,
way of life that sets what is right or wrong good
or bad.
 Culture, religion, law, self Moral Relativism
 Utilitarianism … Natural Law …. DEONTOLOGY
Deontology Defined Literally

 Greek: δέον = binding, necessary (etymology)

= duty—what one ‘owes’ to others
= owe—obliged to pay
= obligation  Latin: ligare—‘to tie/bind’

 Deontology = literally, the study of

duty/obligation
Deontology Defined Formally
 DEONTOLOGY = formally, a moral theory which asserts
that the morality of an action is based on rules
governing duties rather than consequences of an
action or motives of the agent.
 Rule-based
 Duty-based
 Obligation-based
 Action is more important than consequences in
determining the moral quality of an action.
Duty and Agency
 Faculty of RATIONAL WILL = the capacity to 1) act
according to 2) self-determined 3) principles.

ANIMALS HUMANS
instincts/impulses/drives instincts/impulses/drives

animal actions human actions

Duty and Agency
 REASON = ability to stop and think about what we
are doing or about to do.
= ability to separate oneself from the
immediacy of one’s surrounding/
circumstances
= ability to reflect on our action: affects
the self and the world.
= ability to imagine/create a different
and better world.
 To understand the rational will, we have to differentiate human beings
from animals.
 STOP AND THINK = wait lang, sandali, sandali lang moments
 SEPARATE = hindi nagpapadala sa tawag ng pagkakataaon at
pangangailangan
 REFLECT = re+flectare = to bend back.
 EX: Someone gravely insulted me and it really pisses me off I want to
punch that person in the face. That person is your teacher. If I don’t
stop and think about what I am about to do, if I cannot separate myself
from the impulse of my anger and vengeful instincts, I may not be able
to reflect on how my action would affect me and my world. It would
even deny me the ability to imagine/create a better way of dealing with
the situation. Is there no other/better way of dealing with the situation
than punching my teacher in the face? For Kant, human beings are the
ARCHITECTS of their own lives—we CONSTRUCT/DESIGN our worlds not
us BEING DESIGNED by our worlds.
Duty and Agency

REASON WILL
thought action

capacity to capacity to
imagine/create/plan a act/enact/carry out
better world the plan of a better
world
Duty and Agency
 RATIONAL WILL = literally, a will governed by
reason
 It is the faculty to intervene in the world, to act
in a manner consistent with reason.
CAUSE EFFECT
Animals REACT stimulus response
Humans ACT reason action

 It is the the capacity of a person to be the cause

of one’s actions based on reasons.
Duty and Agency
 RATIONAL AGENCY = the the capacity of a person to
act based on his own freewill and deliberation.
 ‘agency’ and ‘action’ Latin: ago, agere, actus = ‘to do/act’

 ACTION = the moving of oneself and taking concrete

means in view of a freely-chosen goal/end.
 ‘deliberate’  Latin: liber=‘free’, related to libra=‘scale’

 DELIBERATION = thinking freely so that one can

weigh the worth/merit of one’s action.
 To be the cause of one’s own action is act
freely.
 Rational action/rational agency is a
result/effect of deliberation.
 That is why in our criminal law – who are
criminally liable? 9-15 years old are
criminally exempt from criminal liability
unless they acted with DISCERNMENT
(DELIBERATION)
Duty and Agency
 To be a RATIONAL AGENT is to act freely on the basis
of duty.
 DUTY = a moral obligation imposed by rational will.
Autonomy
 Faculty of RATIONAL WILL = the capacity to 1) act
principles
according to 2) self-determined 3) principles.
 The property of rational will is AUTONOMY.
 Greek: autos—‘self’ + nomos— ‘law’
 Literally, autonomy means self-law.
 ‘self’ = inner principle of the person
 ‘law’ = something that directs/determines/
regulates movement, action, behavior
Autonomy
 Heteronomy  Greek: heteros—‘other’; = other-law
AUTONOMOUS HETERONOMOUS
self-law other-than-the-self-law
self-acting, self-directing, acted upon, being directed,
self-determining being determined
active passive

take it upon oneself imposed upon

Autonomy
 AUTONOMY = the will that is subject to a principle or
law.
 ‘principle’  Latin: principis— ‘first, beginning, original’
= that from which any other thing proceeds.
 Autonomy is the quality of being the author, origin, or
first cause of your action.
 In autonomous action, the self (pure reason) is
the principle or self-legislating authority of the
law governing one’s action.
Autonomy
RATIONAL WILL ANIMAL INSTINCT
reason-driven impulse-driven
autonomic automatic
inner self (inner law) outer self (external law)
 Autonomy is freedom, the capacity to make free
choices.
 Free choice is an action determined by pure reason.
 Animal choice (arbitrium brutum) is determined
by sensible impulses.
Autonomy

 We are basically animals but we

cannot be reduced simply as animals
as we are more essentially rational
agents. There are two possible causes
of our action. Impulses and reason.
Human freedom lies in this distinction.
Synthesis
 Deontology bases the morality of a human action
not from the consequences but by Pure Reason
 Pure reason imply the use of rational will where
we can find our duty to actualize the good will as
an agent.
 As a rational agent man has to act in freedom and
deliberation.
 Ethics here is something not dictated or
automatic but autonomic or based on principles.