Kantian Ethics

Question 1

Categorical Imperative

Answer 1

How we find out what our duty is.
If an action is good in and of itself and done out of duty and a good will- deontological.
Made up of three formulations we have to follow.

Question 2

Formulation 1

Answer 2

Universalisation. One must act in such a way that one’s action should become a universal law.
For an action to be valid the person wishing to perform such an action can only do so if they believe that in the same situation all people should/must act in the same way.

Question 3

Formulation 2

Answer 3

One should always act in such a way as to treat fellow beings as an end in themselves and not a means to achieving an end.
Treat people as an ends in themselves, do not use them to get somewhere.
The shopkeeper- if he provides a good service to protect his reputation he is using the customer. If he does his duty because he should provide good customer service, he is acting morally.

Question 4

Formulation 3

Answer 4

One should act as though one were a legislator in the ‘Kingdom of Ends’.

Question 5

Hypothetical Imperative

Answer 5

If an action would be good, as a means to something else, the imperative is hypothetical.

Question 6

Duty

Answer 6

Actions are not right or wrong based on their outcomes, but are intrinsically right or wrong in and of themselves. The ends do not justify the means.
We have a duty to always do the right thing, only for the reason that it is good, for duty’s sake, with no emotions or ulterior motives. All rational beings have a sense of right and wrong. Duty is discovered through the categorical imperative.
“Duty involves freely choosing the action”

Question 7

Good Will

Answer 7

We have good will when we act rationally and obey the moral law.

Question 8

Good Will + Duty

Answer 8

A Moral Action
When we act with a good will and do our duty we reach the Summit Bonum- the highest good.

Question 9

Reason

Answer 9

The source of right and wrong.
We all have the ability to use our mind to reason what is right and wrong.
Reason gives us freedom to think about options and make judgements.
The capacity to reason sets us apart from animals, who only follow instinct, and therefore are never acting morally.
Reason is the tool that can be used to know the true nature of the universe- the noumenal world, not the phenomenal world (empirical evidence is unreliable, so we need reason to see truth).

Question 10

God ???

Answer 10

Reason is the source of duty, not God.

Question 11

Strengths

Answer 11

Gives an absolute moral law
Clear instruction- follow duty

Question 12

Weaknesses

Answer 12

Impractical- does not allow for the complexity of individual situations
Proposes we ignore instinct in favour of pure reason, which is difficult
W.D.Ross, conflicting duties
Not all rules can be universalised because they are self-contradictory (e.g. be the best in the class), and some cannot be universalised because you would not want them to be rules everybody must follow (always tell the truth)
Life is too complex to have ‘rules’ that apply for all situations