Kantian Ethics

Question 1

The Good Will

Answer 1

The Good Will is good in and of itself – good without qualification
Someone with a Good Will does things for the right reason and the right reason is to act in accordance with the moral law and for the sake of duty.

Question 2

Hypothetical Imperative

Answer 2

A conditioned command
Willed as a means to an end
“Do X if you wish to achieve Y”
Instrumental goods
A posteriori, through experience
Relative (Dependent/Contingent)
Consequential
“The end justifies the means”.

Question 3

Categorical Imperative

Answer 3

An unconditioned command
Willed as an end in itself
“Do X for the sake of X”
Intrinsic goods
A priori, through reason
Universal (Absolute)
Deontological
“Duty for duty´s sake”

Question 4

Imperfectly Rational

Answer 4

Humans are, like animals, driven by their instincts and desires. However, unlike animals we can reason.
Imperfectly Rational means that we are a mixture or reason and desires.

Question 5

What does Kant say about the duty?

Answer 5

Kant: “Duty is the necessity of acting out of reverence of the moral law”
- the moral law is summarised by the categorical imperative

Question 6

Acting in accordance with the duty

Answer 6

A coincidence that what you do is also what you should do.

Question 7

Acting out of duty

Answer 7

Acting consciously in the way the duty tells you because you acknowledges it as your duty.

Question 8

Maxim

Answer 8

Rule

Question 9

Universal Laws

Answer 9

rules which apply to everyone

Question 10

Perfect duties

Answer 10

If a maxim leads to contradiction in conception, than you have a perfect duty not to do it.

Perfect duties to others (when its involves others): breaking promises, stealing, cheating

Perfect duties to yourself: it is a perfect duty not to commit suicide

Question 11

Imperfect duties

Answer 11

If I cannot rational will that people follow the maxim, than this leads to a imperfect duty. However, sometimes it is right to NOT act on this duty.

Imperfect duties to others: you have the imperfect duty to sometimes not help people, but not always.

Imperfect duties to yourself: you have the imperfect duty to develop your talents because nothing would progress. However, you do not have to do it all the time.

Question 12

Second Formulation of the Categorical Imperative (Humanity Formulation)

Answer 12

“Act in such a way that you treat humanity, never merely as a means to an end, but always at the same time as an end.”

Kant is basically saying do not “use” people

Question 13

Contradiction in Conception

Answer 13

Something that is self-contradictory

Example: “You should steal” is a contradiction in conception because the ability to own something would disappear, and when no one owns something then you cannot steal it.

A contradiction in conception results in a perfect duty.

Question 14

Contradiction in Will

Answer 14

Can we rationally will this maxim?

Example: “You should not help each other”. This is conceivable but it cannot be willed because at some point in life we all need help.

A contradiction in will results in an imperfect duty.

Question 15

First Formulation of the categorical imperative (universal law formulation)

Answer 15

“act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law (without contradiction)”

Question 16

Issue: Clashing/comepting duties

Answer 16

Kant: “a collision of duties and obligations is not even conceivable”
Our moral duties are objective and rational and so it is inconceivable that they could conflict with one another.
If a conflict appear, there must have been a mistake in formulating them.
After all, you cannot rationally will a maxim to become a universal law if it conflict with another law you rationally will - that would be contradictory.

Question 17

Issue: Non-moral maxims

Answer 17

Not all universalizable maxims are moral
“I will not use my phone at the table”

Not all non-universalizable maxims are immoral
“I will come into the top 50%”

Kant agrees with this approach and says that his ethics only apply to moral dilemmas.

Question 18

Issue: The moral value of consequences

Answer 18

Kantian ethics focus only on the action itself.
Utilitarianism focus only on the consequences.
Maybe we want/need both.

Question 19

Issue: The value of other motives

Answer 19

Kant thinks acting out of duty is the better way to act.
In other words, being motivated by duty is the ONLY motivation that has moral worth.

Example: the person who wants to lie, cheat, steal but does not, for the sake of duty, is more superior to those who desire to be truthful, honest, and fair.

Question 20

Philippa Foot - Morality as a system of hypothetical imperatives

Answer 20

She argues that moral laws are not categorical in the way Kant thinks - there is no categorical reason to follow them.
The motivation for hypothetical imperatives is obvious. Our desires provide a rational reason for why.
Foot argues against Kant´s rationality criticism that there is nothing irrational about disobeying the categorical imperative if you never accepted it in the first place. The CI does not itself provide any rational reason to follow it. Morality does not diver from fulfilling desires.

Moral judgements should be seen as hypothetical imperatives because:
- emotions can be useful in determining what is right and wrong
- vague and imprecise (end in themselves and means to an end?)
- Universalisation may result in counterintuitive or absurd conclusions
- the categorical imperative does not help us to determine what to do when two moral principles conflict with each other.

Question 21

Apply Kantian Ethics to telling lies

Answer 21

The maxim “is it OK to lie” fails the first test of the categorical imperative.
- If it was always acceptable to lie, the very concept of telling a lie (saying something is false in order to deceive someone into believing it is true) would not make sense.
We have a perfect duty not to lie.

Lying also conflicts with the humanity formulation:
- When you lie, you usually do not treat people as end in themselves, with respect. You take their ability to pursue their own ends which might be to know the true. Lying undermines the dignity of others.

Question 22

Apply Kantian Ethics to stealing

Answer 22

The maxim “it is OK to steal” would fail the first test of the categorical imperative, it would lead to a contradiction in conception.

If the maxim is “I want to steal” would be universalized, then anyone could steal whenever they wanted.
However, if anyone could steal whenever they wanted, the very concept of personal property would not exist.
And if there is no such thing as personal property, the very concept of stealing does not make sense (because you cannot steal something from someone if it is not theirs to begin with)
As the maxim “I want to steal” leads to a contradiction in conception, stealing violates the categorical imperative, and is therefore wrong.

Question 23

Apply Kantian Ethics to eating animals

Answer 23

The categorical imperative only applies to rational beings, therefore not animals.

However, Kant argues that being cruel to animals violates a duty we have towards ourselves - the duty to develop morally.

This moral development involves developing compassion for other human beings but being cruel to animals weakens these feeling. So, even though we do not have any duties directly towards animals, we do have duties in regards to them.

Question 24

Apply Kantian Ethics to simulated killing

Answer 24

Murdering people in video games does not go against the categorical imperative as it does not lead to a contradiction in conception, contradiction in will, or violates the humanity formulation.

However, Kant argues that our we have a duty towards ourselves which is to develop morally. Practicing simulated killing might weaken our feelings of compassion towards humans. Therefore, it could be argued that we have a duty not to engage in simulated killing.

Question 25

Name key facts about Kant´s deontological ethics

Answer 25

The only thing that is good without qualification is good will.
Good will means acting for the sake of duty.
You have a duty to follow the moral law.
Moral laws are universal.
You can tell if a maxim is universal if it passes the categorical imperative.
The categorical imperative is two tests:
- Contradiction in conception
- Contradiction in will
Finally, do not treat people as means to an end (the humanity formula).