Kantian ethics Flashcards
What are Kant’s dates?
1724-1804
What 2 books did Kant write?
‘Critique of Pure Reason’ and ‘Foundation for the Metaphysics of Morals’
What are the features of Kantian ethics?
- Deontological
- A priori synthetic
- Universal
- Prescriptive
What does a priori synthetic mean?
his thinking is absolute and independent of human experience
What are laws worked out using?
Reasons as it is reliable
What is the good will?
to do one’s duty
What does one achieve when duty is carried out for duty’s sake?
The summum bonum - happiness and virtue are united
Are consequences important for Kant?
No
What does Kant use to work out ethics
Duty - the feature of an act itself
Is motive important for Kant?
Yes
What should our motive be?
Duty for the sake of duty alone
Why did Kant distrust emotion?
It is unreliable and phenomenal (from the world of experience). Emotions can be easily manipulated, and volatile, and can cause one to act irrationally
What are the features of the good will?
- The Good Will is intrinsically good in itself
- Things such as desires, consequences and feelings cannot be good in themselves
- Only an action with duty alone as the motive can be moral
What is a quote on the good will?
The Good Will “shines forth like a precious jewel”
What did Kant say on freedom?
- We are free to act morally, therefore we can either choose to act out of duty or not.
Why did Kant believe in God and the afterlife?
- Life is unfair - good people aren’t always rewarded and immoral people often are
- This led Kant to assume that God and an afterlife do exist, where God rewards the good and punishes the immoral
What is the summum bonum?
the highest good where virtues are rewarded by God
What are categorical imperatives?
- accepted by Kant
- Categorical imperatives are unconditional universal commands which are binding for everyone at all times
- Categorical imperatives are based on reason
○ For example: “You ought to tell the truth”
○ Kant called these maxims
What are hypothetical imperatives?
- rejected by Kant
- Hypothetical imperatives are ‘if’ statements, which are conditional and dependent on consequences
- Hypothetical imperatives are often based on self interest and so rejected by Kant
○ For example: “You ought to tell the truth if no one is hurt by it”
What is the first principle of the categorical imperative?
Universalise your actions into a universal law
What is Kant’s quote regarding the first principle?
○ “Always act in such a way that the maxim of your action can be willed as a universal law for all humanity”
How does one universalise their actions?
○ Firstly one must decide whether a law can be universalised and if it leads to an ordered society
○ Then one must decide if it is a contradiction in the law of nature because you cannot have a rule which is self contradictory or a contradiction in the will…a rule which a person involved would not want to see universalised because the resulting situation would be unacceptable to them
What is the second principle of the categorical imperative?
Respect all human beings as having absolute dignity because we have reason which separates us from other animals
What is Kant’s quote regarding the second principle?
“Always treat human beings as an end in themselves, never simply as a means to an end.”
Explain the second principle
○ We are rational beings therefore humans can never be exploited
○ All humans are equal in status
To be law making members in a kingdom
What is the third principle of the categorical imperative?
- To be law making members in a kingdom of ends
What is Kant’s quote on the third principle?
“So act as if you were a law-maker in a kingdom of ends”
What is the meaning of the third principle?
If we make commands using the three principles of the categorical imperative and using reason then we should come up with the same laws.
○ We should all be law makers
What is a contradiction in the nature?
- An act is wrong if it is a contradiction in nature
- You cannot carry out a maxim if it contradicts the nature of what it is eg cannot commit suicide as nature is to live
○ For example: you cannot have a maxim that states ‘you ought to tell lies’ as this breaks the nature of truth telling and then there would be no such thing as truth
○ For example: you cannot have a maxim that states ‘you ought to break promises’ as this breaks the nature of a promise to be kept
- You cannot carry out a maxim if it contradicts the nature of what it is eg cannot commit suicide as nature is to live
What is a contradiction in the will?
- An act is wrong if it contradicts the will
- You cannot carry out a maxim if it contradicts what you would like for yourself
- We should will for others what we would like for ourselves
○ For example: if you know that one day you will need help then the maxim should be ‘you ought to help others’ - we should help people because we might one day need that help
What is Kant’s quote on duty?
“Suppose a man does an action for the sake of duty alone, for the first time his action has genuine moral worth…a moral worth beyond all comparison the highest…he does good not from inclination, but from duty”
What are the strengths of Kantian ethics?
- Prescriptive
- Not an excess of freedom (Dostoevsky)
- Based on reason
- Not empirical evidence which is easily manipulated
- Don’t have to be religious to follow
- Deontological
- Focuses on duty instead of consequences - consequences are unpredictable
- Absolute - easy to follow
- Don’t need to calculate, you know the path to take
- People are judged fairly if you are following the same absolute laws
- Contradiction in the will develops empathy - treat others
- Personalistic - puts people first
- Believes that humans are worthy because of their reason
What are the weaknesses of Kantian ethics?
- Doesn’t consider consequences of actions - deontological
- Is not compassionate and flexible and could lead to a bad outcome
- We can still use our reason and come to different conclusions e.g. Different views on homosexuality
- Without compassion moral action becomes desensitized and cold
- Not using compassion doesn’t respect dignity
- Good outcome is the most important
- Following universalised laws won’t always lead to a good outcome
- Not flexible for situations
- Absolutism
- Carrying out moral action just out of duty for duty’s sake does not breed morally good people
- Not hypothetical / Categorical imperatives - too absolute - no relativism which means the laws aren’t flexible to different situations
- Universal laws - cultural relativism (Mackie, sumner, boas) - different cultures require different laws, which better suit their lives.
- Contradiction in the laws of nature - its unfair to give something a fixed nature - things can have multiple purposes
- Protagoras - man is the measure of all things - individual relativism - it is up to each man what he thinks
- Should not treat people as a means to an end - sometimes you have to treat people as a means to an end - plane crash example - surely they should be allowed to eat the dead.
What is a postulate?
Something that must be assumed in order for Kant’s morality to work
