Kant Flashcards
3rd categorical formulation
“systematic union of different rational beings under common law”
how did ross revise kant
- made sure ethic wasn’t based on one standard of morality but multiple prima facie duties
- prima facie is not absolute so allows for exceptions when duty conflicts
HEGEL: kant is “too abstract to be pragmatic”
ross changes this though
objections to kant
- Jean paul sartre and example of a man at war torn between two duties
- how ross fixes this with prima facie duties
- emotional realm and Williams
- SCHOPENHAUER: selfish ethic esp with SB
- harsh ethic that encourages retribution
- first formulation of CI doesn’t flag up what is wrong
praise of kant’s ethic
SANDEL protects minorities unlike Singer or Util
Ensures universal moral norms
whats the ‘summer bonum’
‘real object of our will’
when pure motive coincides with good action; the good thing is done and the doer feels good about it
how does Kant define maxims?
‘our personal principles that guide our decisions’
what is the will?
our rational ability to make choices and decisions
what is the only thing that is good ‘without qualification’?
only ‘good will’, which is good in itself
what is the first formulation of the categorical imperative?
‘act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law’
what is a contradiction in conception?
the theorised world is logically impossible and cannot logically exist if the maxim is universalised and rationally followed; logical contradiction as concepts e.g. ‘everyone should step’ means concept of ownership is defunct
what is a contradiction in will?
where the maxim is not self-contradictory, but we cannot rationally will the world that comes from the said maxim e.g. do not help others in need
what is the second formulation of the CI?
‘Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end’
what is the third formulation of the CI?
‘act as if you were, through your maxims, a law-making member of a kingdom of ends’
Objections to Kant
- Universality -we could change maxims (Macintyre)
- Lack of humanity (Hegel)
- there are conflicts between duties i.e. Sartre’s student
- Limits human characteristics (Hume: Emotion>Reason +VE)
- Too abstract - tells only right type action, not what
- Not everyone has freedom? (Paton)
Strengths of Kant
- no vested interests / bias
- logical, simple method, CI
- emphasises equality (all humans can reason)
- independent of external authority
How does Hegel criticise Kant?
Kant overlooks the place of community and special relationships which form the roots of morality, so his theory is cold-hearted as duty is the only motive with moral worth.
Quote by Hume on why reason is not supreme guidance so Kant limits human characteristics
‘Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions’
What does H.J Paton argue
that Kant’s theory of duty fails if we have no freedom, and ‘we have no independent insight into the alleged necessity for presupposing freedom’
Quote Paton 1947
‘even if we hold the moral law and categorical imperative to be apodeictically certain, there still remains the problem of freedom; and if freedom as merely an illusion, this could not but suggest that our belief in moral obligation and moral responsibility must also be an illusion’
What does Macintyre say?
You can justify anything using universability
Quote Macintyre
‘all I need to do is to characterise the proposed action in such a ways hat the maxim will permit me to do what I want while prohibiting others from doing what would nullify the action if universalised’
Sartre quote to illustrate conflict of duty
‘in the case of that student who came to see me, that to whatever ethical system he might appeal, the Kantian or any other, he could find no sort of guidance whatever; he was obliged to invent the law for himself’
Peter Vardy’s definition of categorical imperatives
‘Categorical iImperatives are arrived at through practical reason and they are understood as a basis for action’
Kant quote on the good will no.1
‘A good will is not good because of what it effects or accomplishes.. it is good through its willing alone - that is, good in itself’
Kant quote which opens his ‘Groundwork of the Metaphysics of morals’
‘it is impossible to conceive of anything in the world, or even out of it, which can be called good without qualification, except a good will’
Main influence on Kant’s concept of free will / moral responsibility?
Jean-Jacques Rousseau in ‘The Social Contract’: ‘man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains’
Bernard williams
- impartial position Kant wishes to adopt may be possible for factual considerations, but not moral deliberations
- by abstracting persons from character, Kant misinterprets persons and morality
Schpenhauer
Kant’s ethic is concerned over what ought to be done, rather than attempting to interpret what actually happens
Nietzche
rejects that god and morality can be known just because we have reason;
thinks the intellect is just another internal drive, an instinct–>thus when we act out of reason it isn’t us being impartial but rather just one of our drives taking over
Gerald Jones
SB introduces a moral carrot into Kant’s ethic
Hegel
- Kant’s theory is ‘too abstract to be practical’ (but this is fixed by Ross)
- Kant’s ethic forces humans into conflict between reason and desire, but it is unnatural to subordinate desire to reason
