KANT ISSUES- Clashing/competeing Duties Flashcards
What is the example of the axeman where our duties contradict each other
An axeman asks where your friend is. Kant says it’s wrong to lie as you cannot universalise lying.
You also have a duty to care for others. So this scenario is a clash in our duties. A perfect duty to not lie(no exceptions) and an imperfect duty to care for others( not always performed).
Why does clashing duties provide a problem for Kant
His moral system focuses on not acting on rules that cannot be consistently universalised. Inconsistent rules give you the duty to not follow the rule so all duties are about consistency. Therefore two moral duties are rationally inconsistent then they cannot be duties.
While Kant says duties cannot clash, we can sometimes be wrong in thinking through our grounds of obligation. Give an example of this
If I made a promise to a friend to lie for them I would have the conflicting duties of A)keeping ,y promise and B) not lying. In this case I’m not obligated to keep the promise as we cannot rationally will the maxim whereby we keep promises to lie. It was wrong to make the promise and we have a duty to not made such promises. Therefor the duties don’t clash as I have a moral duty to not keep this promise
What do imperfect duties leave us with
A vague moral duty as they dont tell us when to perform them and it can be difficult to know what duties to prioritise and sometimes they compete
What do utilitarians say about competing duties
They have the advantage as by using happiness they can weigh up different actions and see how they compare
What does Kant say about competing imperfect duties
Less clear approach.
We need to look at the reasons for our action and see which is stronger
What can be argued about Kants approach to competing imperfect duties
That the complexity is just apart of the world we live in e.g. human rights lawyers argue the hierarchy of competing rights. Does freedom of speech mean I can say anything.? What if it undermines someone’s religion or incited hatred which could undermine people right to freedom of movement? Etc.
What is the clashing/competing duties
We aren’t told how to weight our duties and which to follow when we have multiple
