Kant Definitions Flashcards
Importance of freedom or human autonomy with reason
If we are only motivated by our desires, we can never truly be free because our desires are controlling us - only when we act with reason do we act independent of the desires that we share with other creatures
Why does freedom guarantee morality
If we are not free, we cannot be held morally accountable, as you are controlled by your desires
Pietism
Kant parents were Pietists, emphasised moral life rather than rather than beliefs and practices
Deontological
Based on laws and rules
Absolutist
certain actions are always right or wrong irrespective of circumstances
Rationalism
knowledge can be gained from reason
Empiricism
knowledge can be gained from experience and observation
Human reason
a distinct faculty that is independent of the world of experience, and of our desires and nature - innate, filters that help us experience the world
The good will
Only thing in the world that can be taken as good without qualification - 100 percent purely good in and of itself
intrinstic goods
only good will - always good without qualification
‘good through its willing alone’
instrumental/extrinsic goods
good because of the outcome or results it leads to
what does the good will mean in practice
doing your duty - only the action which springs from duty can be classified as a moral act (how to know motive is pure)
in conformity with duty
action is not motivated by duty alone
from duty
when there is no empirical inclination, solely motivated by duty
The categorical imperative
supreme principle of morality - deontological guideline that tells me whether possible actions might be good - expressed by the command ‘i ought’
