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ETHICS > KANTIAN ETHICS > Flashcards

KANTIAN ETHICS Flashcards

1
Q

IMMANUEL KANT 1724-1804

A
  • Regarded as the outstanding philosopher of the 18th century
  • His philosophical theory of transcendental idealism is opposed to relativism
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2
Q

NAME KANT’S 2 KEY TEXTS

A
  • Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785)
  • Critique of Pure Reason (1787)
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3
Q

A PRIORI

A

prior to human knowledge

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4
Q

DEONTOLOGY

A
  • actions can be right or wrong in themselves
  • deontological systems are concerned with describing our moral duties
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5
Q

DEONTOLOGY: STRENGTHS+WEAKNESSES

A
  • Strength: Avoids problem of having to predict consequences
  • Weakness: Refuses to consider consequences at all- what if certain actions have horrible results
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6
Q

ABSOLUTIST

A

fixed rules

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7
Q

ABSOLUTISM: STRENGTHS + WEAKNESSES

A

Strength:
* Provides clear fixed duties without having to assess individual situations
* Moral absolutism avoids problem of moral relativism which means inequality and equality are moral equivalents
Weakness:
* Inflexible- extreme situations might prompt different response

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8
Q

TRANSCENDENTAL IDEALISM

A

The view that concepts or ideals do exist + have universal meaning

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9
Q

SUMMUM BONUM

A

the highest good

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10
Q

GOOD WILL

A

**Having good intentions **

“It is impossible to conceive of anything in the world…which can be called good without qualification, save only a good will” (Groundworks of the Metaphysics of Morals)

  • A ‘Good Will’ is being motivated by doing your duty
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11
Q

DUTY

A
  • For Kant, duty is not:
    1. Doing the right thing out of self-interest or because of possible consequences
    2. Doing the right thing out of inclination (feelings/desires)
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12
Q

DUTY + GOOD WILL: STRENGTHS + WEAKNESSES

A

Strength:
* Demands we put our feelings aside in order to do the right thing- our inclinations and desires about what we want are not necessarily the same as what’s wrong

Weakness:
* Demands emotions + inclinations shouldn’t influence a decision

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13
Q

IM WORKING LATEEE

GOOD WILL: WEAKNESS

A
  • Singer criticises Kant for removing the element of sympathy and emotion from ethics
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14
Q

ATKIIOWAPSLASWTFOOTFTFTHAHIGMW

GOOD WILL: PETER SINGER QUOTE

A

‘According to Kant, it is only when a person somehow loses ‘all sympathy with the fate of others’…. that ‘for the first time his actions has its geniune moral worth’

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15
Q

Singer: close

GOOD WILL: WEAKNESS

A
  • Singer also argues the idea of ‘duty for its own sake’ leads to a ‘closed system’ in which people don’t inquire into the reasons for our actions which he regards as dangerous
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16
Q

SINGER: moral f….

GOOD WILL: WEAKNESS

A
  • Finally, Singer claims that, without sympathy, Singer claims that the idea of duty can lead to moral fanaticism (putting morals above people)
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17
Q

MORAL KNOWLEDGE

A
  • Kant argues that we can know what is morally right prior to experience
  • Moral knowledge is a priori
  • ‘though all our knowledge begins with experience, it does not follow that it all arises out of experience’ (Critique of Pure Reason)
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18
Q

ANALYTIC STATEMENTS

A
  • A statement that only requires the words within it to verify whether it is true or false
  • Moral statements are not analytic e.g Murder is wrong is not true or false by definition
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19
Q

SYNTHETIC STATEMENTS

A
  • A statement that requires external information, usually empirical data, to verify whether it is true or false
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20
Q

SYNTHETIC A PRIORI

A
  • Verifying moral statements through reason
  • Moral judgments are synthetic a priori
21
Q

KANT’S VIEW THAT MORALS ARE KNOWN THROUGH REASON AND EXPERIENCE: STRENGTHS + WEAKNESSES

A
  • Strength: Moral knowledge isnt empircially verifiable- we can’t see right or wrong
  • Weakness: Questionable- perhaps Utilitarians are correct to assert we must observe
22
Q

AUTONOMY

A
  • Self- ruling
  • Kant believed we have rationality and unlike other ethical theories we are able to work out what these rules are
  • They are not imposed by God or a similar authority
23
Q

MAXIM

A
  • Underlying rule
  • Kant argues when we carry out an action we’re acting upon a maxim- there’s a rule we have in mind that we are following
  • This doesnt tell us whether our maxims are good rules or not- need to rationally consider whether the maxims are categorical or hypothetical imperatives
24
Q

HYPOTHETICAL IMPERATIVE

A
  • A command that we would follow in order to achieve an end result
  • It’s a moral obligation dependent upon desiring the goal in question
  • Kant argues that if the command is only dependent on the outcome then this is not a moral duty
25
Q

CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE

A
  • A command which logically has to be followed- it doesn’t depend on the end results
  • There is something unconditional about the command
26
Q

NAME OF KANT’S 3 FORMULATIONS

A

THE CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE

27
Q

FORMULA OF THE UNIVERSAL LAW OF NATURE

A
  • When we act morally, our action musy be something we and anyone else could always do
  • It cannot be an exceptional act that only applies in this situation or that culture
  • It has to be logical, the maxim has to be consistent- it can’t be contradictory or self-defeating
  • Maxims that couldn’t be universalised would be self-defeating
28
Q

FORMULA OF THE UNIVERSAL LAW OF NATURE: STEPS FOR MAXIM

A
  1. Identify maxim
  2. Make it universal
  3. Does it make logical sense? Does it contradict/defeat itself
29
Q

AOATTMBWUCATSTWISBAUL

FORMULA OF THE UNIVERSAL LAW OF NATURE QUOTE

A

Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will it should become a universal law

Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals

30
Q

GIVE AN EXAMPLE OF AN ACTION WHICH AREN’T DUTIES

A

Breaking promises

31
Q

GIVE AN EXAMPLE OF AN ACTION WHICH IS A DUTY ACCORDING TO KANT

A
  • Truthfulness
  • “truthfulness is a duty that must be regarded as thr basis of all duties founded on contract”
32
Q

FORMULA OF UNIVERSAL LAW OF NATURE: STRENGTHS

A
  • A logical way of determining moral duties- avoids self-defeating maxims
  • Provides a useful principle in making moral decisions- similar to golden rule of religion “treat others as you would wish them to treat you”- stops us making a special case
33
Q

FORMULA OF UNIVERSAL LAW OF NATURE: WEAKNESS

A
  • Demands absolute truthfulness
  • Benjamin Constant in 1797 argued the duty to tell the truth would make any society impossible
  • It is better at showing things we ought not to do rather than showing what we should do- there are a strange number of maxims that could be universalised
34
Q

LOUIS POJMAN

FORMULA OF UNIVERSAL LAW OF NATURE: WEAKNESS

A
  • Book: Ethics: Discovering Right and Wrong (2012)
  • Showed it is possible to apply Kant’s formula to create maxims that contradict Kant’s own conclusions
  • Kant argued his formula would prohibit suicide as you cannot universalise ‘Whenever it looks like one will experience more pain then pleasure one should kill yourself’ as it contradicts survival
  • Pojman argues it would be possible to universalise ‘Whenever the pain of suffering of existence erodes the quality of life in such a way as to make non-existence a preference to suffering existence, one is permitted to commit suicide’- IF YOU ADD ENOUG WORDS YOU CAN JUSTIFY
  • While Kant opposes suicide, his categorical imperative doesn’t
35
Q

FORMULA OF THE END OF ITSELF

A
  • According to Kant, humans are free, rational and autonomous. Therefore, they’re beyond price and cannot be used for some other end
  • We have a duty to treat each other as persons (ends in themselves) and not as we would treat an object (a means to an end)
36
Q

AISAWTYATHNSAAMBAAE

FORMULA OF THE END OF ITSELF: QUOTE

A

Act in such a way that you always treat humanity… never simply as a means but always… as an end

Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals

37
Q

FORMULA OF END IN ITSELF: STRENGTHS

A
  • Respects intrinsic value of persons and therefore enables a concept of rights to be used
  • Avoids utilitarian flaw of harming the minority for the greater good
38
Q

FORMULA OF END IN ITSELF: WEAKNESS

A
  • Kant argues human beings are valuable because they are rational agents capapable of free will
  • However, this reasoning is problematic as it implies that humans that are less rational amd capable of free will have less intrinsic worth
  • This has potential dangerous implications- it could justify treating the most vulnerable as a means to an end
39
Q

Can be seen as combination of the previous 2

FORMULA OF THE KINGDOM OF ENDS

A
  • Kant asks us to imagine we are part of the law-making council in a kingdom of ends
  • We may think we live in a world where no one treats each other with the required dignity and autonomy as it seems most people seek selfish ends
  • Kant forbids us from making a moral rule that assumes others will not treat people as ends in themselves
  • We should not base our universal rules on a uniform degradation and a disregard for people
40
Q

FORMULA OF THE KINGDOM OF ENDS: QUOTE

A

“Every rational being must so act as if were through his maxims always a law-making member in the universal kingdom of ends”

Groundwork of Metaphysics of Morals

41
Q

FORMULA OF KINGDOM OF ENDS: WEAKNESSES

A
  • Too abstract and theoretical
  • Doesn’t practically work in a world where people act in immoral ways
  • We must preempt injustice and criminality
42
Q

KANTS FORMULAS: JUDGEMENT

A
  • Ultimately they don’t help us resolve dilemmas when there are conflicting duties
43
Q

THREE POSTULATES

A

- Things that have to be assumed or are a basis for reasoning
- For Kant there are 3 postulates that have to be in place for morality to function
1. That we have free will
2. That there is an afterlife, we are immortal
3. That God exists

44
Q

THREE POSTULATES: FREEDOM

A
  • If we’re not genuinely free to either the good or evil thing, there can be no moral responsibility and no moral choice
45
Q

THREE POSTULATES: IMMORTALITY

A
  • Kant argues that morality requires the summun bonum to be achieved- where perfect virtue is rewarded by perfect happiness
  • This doesn’t happen in this life to say it ought to be achieved must mean it can- so the summun bonum must occur in the next life
  • We must postulate immprtality of the soul to allow for the correct happiness to be ensured beyond this life
46
Q

THREE POSTULATES: GOD

A
  • In order that the summun bonum actually occurs goodness is rewarded by happiness, there must be a God who ensures the justice of the universe
47
Q

Does Kant think these are proved

THREE POSTULATES: THING TO NOTE

A
  • Kant didnt think that these three things are proved, merely that they must be assumed practically in order for morality to exisy
48
Q

THREE POSTULATES: WEAKNESS

A
  • Questionable- determinists will argue that humans aren’t really free- we are determined by biological, psychological and sociological factors
  • His theory relies upon a belief in life after death and God- too abstract especially for a more secular society
49
Q

THOMAS NAGEL- MODERN APPROACH

A
  • Supports deontological ethics
  • Book: The Possibility of Altruism
  • Has sought to show that deontology is still of relevance today
  • He talks about how in daily life we generally assume there are some fixed duties and expect others to comply with them- we expect fairness, loyalty etc

ETHICS (5 decks)

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