DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS: IMMANUEL KANT

Who is Immanuel Kant?

- 18th century German philosopher associated with the enlightenment.

- A philosopher who believed that humans could learn to be good and kind outside religious creeds.

Kant’s Theory of Good will

- Good will is the will to do the right thing whatever it is.

- Acting in the good will is the only way to be moral.
- Morality is a system of rules that you put on yourself due to being a rational being, of having a mind.
- Money, intelligence, fame, or reputation can be used for either good or bad. Nonetheless, the will to do good
is always good.
- Focuses on the intention of the action rather than the consequence.
- If one is doing what somebody else is telling him or her to do, it cannot be good. Goodwill has to come from
you.

Three main points of Kant’s concept of Good will:

1. It is the will to do the right thing at all costs

2. It is motivated by neither reward nor punishment
3. It has to come inherently from the moral agent

Kant’s Categorical Imperative

- This term first appeared in Kant’s book called “Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals”
- It is a command that you should follow all the time regardless of your desires and circumstances. It is an
imperative, an order that is applied categorically.
- Kant’s moral philosophy depends on free will.
- To him, freedom is not the lack of government or being able to do whatever we want. Instead, we are only free
when acting under our own best nature.
- A free will and a will under moral laws are the same.

Three formulations of the Categorical Imperative

1. I ought never to act except in such a way that I could also will that my maxim should become a universal law.
2. Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or the person of another, always as an
end and never simply as a means.
3. Act as though your maxims you could be the legislator of universal laws.