Kant Flashcards
kant context
- German philosopher, lived a time of great crisis and doubt, reflected in his absolutist approach, quoted saying ‘any change makes me nervous’.
- Developments in science had begun to redefine knowledge with Newtonian understanding of the world, rather than looking to religion/superstition for answers.
- He did believe in God and afterlife but was suspicious of reliance on RE doctrine. Thought we cannot know universal moral laws through God’s direct revelation, therefore must use our reason to uncover them.
- Rationalist, believed knowledge is known through reason, not emotion.
- Must categorically follow moral law because it is our duty, all humans are morally equal.
- Deontological approach: means, not outcome.
kant rationalism
• Rationalist, believed knowledge is known through reason, not emotion.
o Find duty through reason.
o Rationality allows us to act independently of our pleasure, only humans are capable of this, can pursue the summum bonum and have state of autonomy. (Autonomy as central to human life later influences Sartre and Heidegger)
o Errors in moral thinking come from taking a heteronomous approach, i.e. following others.
• Evidence of influence from Socrates, who taught people to think for themselves.
duty
• Must use our free will effectively to always will the good and follow our duty = absolutist approach.
• Must follow universal moral laws based on a priori truths = a priori.
• Outcomes are never clear, can be clouded by emotion, so should focus on intention, rather than consequences = deontological approach.
• Should be good, regardless of outcome.
o ‘A good will is good not because of what is makes or accomplishes, and not because of its fitness to reach some proposed goal; it is good only through its willing - it is good in itself’. - Metaphysics of Morals, Kant
• Moral duty can be converted into a series of universal moral laws that all human beings ought to follow.
• Takes into account our responsibility to others, recognising the universality of morality (POSITIVE).
extreme duty
• Following your duty can sometimes cause a cost to oneself = extreme duty.
o Kant gives example of ‘a wretched man… logs for death and still preserves his life without loving lit - not from inclination or fear but from duty’.
o E.g. when a woman is raped and becomes pregnant. It would be the extreme duty of the woman to have the baby, as the duty to save life is universal.
o You can’t universalise abortions and can universalise saving lives, so her moral duty is to keep the baby. Must use reason to figure this out, can’t allow decisions to be clouded by emotion, rejects love etc. replacing them with rational duty.
different statements
• Analytic Statements - a priori, independent of experience.
o E.g. all bachelors are single
• Synthetic Statements - a posteriori, need additional information to confirm.
o E.g. all bachelors are unhappy.
• Felt that all moral statements were analytic since it is human reason alone that gives humanity knowledge of moral truth; through reason you can find your duty.
• Takes objective viewpoint by claiming moral truth is purely based on reason, not feelings.
o HOWEVER….
• Augustine would argue reason is tarnished.
• Can you completely separate reason from feelings?
summer bonum
Summum Bonum - highest form of Good… Good will.
• Morals should be universally binding, so that everyone can accept them. (HOWEVER, is it possible to find a morality that is universal for all?)
• Summum Bonum is the joining of virtue and happiness (two-fold), with virtue being doing ones duty, and happiness being a bonus that comes as a result.
• Happiness is a by-product, not a motivation. However, not all are rewarded with happiness.
• Things are only moral if done according to good will.
2 types of imperatives
how we work out our duty/whether a maxim is moral.
• Kant identifies the 2 types of imperatives:
o Hypothetical imperatives - if you want A, then do B. (can be right when it cannot be solved using CIs but generally WRONG to Kant)
o Categorical imperatives - do B because you want to do B, not because you want A as a result. Act by a maxim that can become universal law. (RIGHT)
universal law
a. Could it be accepted as a universal law for everyone in every situation? (Opposite to Fletcher, nothing can be universalised, must take situationalist approach)
b. ‘Act only on that maxim whereby which you can at the same time ill that it become a universal law’.
c. E.g. everyone should tell the truth - always the right thing. Same with no suicide and borrowing money (all debts must be paid).
criticisms of first CI
Does universalising things make them moral? I can universalise only listening to Beethoven, does that make it a moral decision?
• Aquinas notes that universalising is not always moral: ‘All people realise that it is right and good to act according to reason… it follows as an individual conclusion that debts ought to be paid. In most cases this is true, but it could happen in some individual instance that it would be harmful and therefore irrational to repay a debt (if, for example, the money were to be used for a war against one’s own country)’.
• Only uses narrow range of examples to support idea of universal law.
means to end
a. You must not use others in pursuit of an ethical end. End does not justify the means, as this would be hypothetical.
b. ‘Act as to treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of any other, in every case at the same time as an end, never as a means only’.
c. E.g. you should never build something that may cause deaths in its building, even if the building in the end will benefit more than it harmed, as then you would be using those people as a means to an end.
d. Also applies to oneself, cannot use yourself as a means to an end e.g. no suicide, masturbation/can’t starve to help another, value self-worth.
e. Must acknowledge and respect the intrinsic quality of the human beings involved and their freedom (positive).
f. Supported by Pope John Paul II: ‘Anyone who treats a person as the means to an end does violence to the very essence of the other’
criticisms of means to end
- Opposite to Fletcher - cannot simply neglect outcomes, can’t do something knowing it will cause a negative consequence, impossible to detach ourselves from outcome.
- Doesn’t take into account complex nature of many moral decisions, sometimes necessary to use people as means to an end, no alternative. E.g. WW2 Coventry bombing used as means to find out enigma code.
kingdom of ends
a. All society desiring the same goods = autonomy.
b. ‘Act according to the maxims of a member of a merely possible kingdom of ends legislating in it universally’.
c. Any action must be made for all, in order to create a moral community of moral goodness and contentment, where conflict is removed and all humans realise their common aims (summum bonum).
criticism of kingdom of ends
• Cannot always follow maxims - not everyone should marry, may not be good for us all. Many moral cases that wouldn’t suit the whole of society.
positives of CIs general
• Kant is holding onto human free will and autonomy.
• It takes account of justice because the morality of the action is based on its intrinsic rightness; justice towards the individual is always safeguarded due to its deontological format.
• Respecting human integrity and respect for life esp. means to an end (2nd CI). Treats people as having intrinsic worth, each person should be respected.
o Equal treatment of individuals eradicates bias towards family; friends etc. duty is to humanity not individuals.
• It is absolutist, clear we must apply the CIs, giving structure to society.
• Can be universalised, people will have to subordinate own natural inclinations so they can appreciate others’ needs.
• Detached morality, are not being clouded by emotions.
• Appeals to our duty, which fits in with human experience.
positives of CIs - ross
• W.D. Ross - states that perhaps Kant is not so rigid in his morality and that one duty can be over ridden by a more compelling duty, overcoming the issue of conflict of duties.
