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Ethics 7 > Kantian ethics > Flashcards

Kantian ethics Flashcards

1
Q

Define ‘moral law’

A

Binding moral obligations

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2
Q

Define ‘maxims’

A

Another word for moral rules determined by reason

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3
Q

Define ‘duty’

A

Duties are created by moral law, our duty is to follow it

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4
Q

Define ‘summum bonum’

A

The highest, most supreme good

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5
Q

Define ‘good will’

A

A person of good will is someone who makes decisions according to the moral law

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6
Q

Define ‘categorical imperative’

A

An unconditional moral obligation that is always binding irrespective of a person’s inclination or purpose

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7
Q

Define ‘hypothetical imperative’

A

A moral obligation that applies only if one desires the implied goal

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8
Q

Define ‘kingdom of ends’

A

An imagined future in which all people act in accordance to the moral law, the categorical imperative

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9
Q

What does Kant believe about moral law?

A

There is an objective moral law beyond personal opinion, preference or desire which exists and is known through reason

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10
Q

Describe objective moral law

A

Independent of all opinion, demands universal obedience in its own right not because it promotes happiness but it tells us what we ought to do irrespective of consequence

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11
Q

What is good will?

A

Good will is irrespective of what it accomplishes so doing good despite what it accomplishes e.g. giving money to charity because you should is virtuous but giving money to charity to impress someone else is not

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12
Q

What is the shopkeeper analogy?

A

The first shopkeeper does not short change their customers because it is their duty, the second shopkeeper doesn’t short change their customer because they are afraid of getting caught so only the first shopkeeper is virtuous

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13
Q

How does Kant believe emotion links into moral duty?

A

Motives with inclination such as family loyalty or guilt have no moral worth but we should act with sympathy to others as long as emotion does not drive our moral thinking

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14
Q

Give some duties Kant establishes to ourselves and others

A
  • self-perfection and well being
  • pursue greater good
  • innate right to freedom
  • not to destroy or limit other human beings
  • avoid drunkenness
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15
Q

What does Kant believe is the wrong way to perceive moral law?

A
  • What we desire
  • Sacred scripture
  • What will benefit ourselves
  • Weigh up consequences of either course of action
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16
Q

How does Kant believe moral knowledge is known?

A

Reason not sense or emotion

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17
Q

How does Kant believe we can separate knowledge?

A
  • Two groups
  • Gained through sense experience from the empirical world (a posteriori)
  • Knowledge at first hand (a priori) a necessary or universal feature of all objects
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18
Q

Give a quote from Kant describing experience

A

“Though all our knowledge begins with experience, it does not follow that it all arises out of experience”

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19
Q

What are the two types of judgement?

A

Synthetic and analytic

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20
Q

Give an example of an analytic judgement

A

All bachelors are unmarried

  • Subject: bachelors
  • Predicate: unmarried
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21
Q

What are analytic judgements?

A

Judgements of clarification

22
Q

What are synthetic judgements?

A
  • Those in which the predicate is outside the judgement and so must be made certain with reference to something other than the meanings of terms and laws of logic
  • Judgement of amplification because when it’s true it adds new information to the subject
23
Q

Give an example of a synthetic judgement

A

The table in the kitchen is round

  • Subject: table
  • Predicate: round
24
Q

How can judgements be linked with knowledge?

A

Analytic are a priori

Synthetic are a posteriori

25
Q

What does Kant think moral propositions should be?

A

Synthetic because they add information outside of experience so the additional information is the moral law that is revealed by reason and you should assess what people ought to do not what they actually do

26
Q

What does Kant think moral knowledge should be?

A

Reason at first hand, a priori synthetic

27
Q

What does situationsim and utilitarians think moral propositions are linked too?

A

S: love
U: consequences

28
Q

What is hypothetical knowledge?

A

‘If’ statements are conditional e.g. if you want to do the loving thing then you should do x

29
Q

What is the hypothetic imperative?

A

Commands behaviour for an end but it only commands us if we have accepted the desired end

30
Q

Why does Kant reject the hypothetic imperative?

A

Moral law binds us unconditionally

31
Q

What is the categorical imperative?

A
  • Kant believes moral knowledge is categorical e.g. if telling the truth is morally right then everyone should always tell the truth even if it hurts someone’s feelings
  • Commands us to exercise our free will irrespective of any end
32
Q

Describe the moral acts and rules of the categorical imperative

A

Moral rules and acts reside in themselves alone (deontological) not in circumstances or whether they bring personal happiness e.g. the truth must be told even if it causes upset

33
Q

Give a quote from Kant about universalisation

A

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

34
Q

What are maxims?

A

Fixed rules that must always apply

35
Q

Give an example of universalised maxims

A

The maxim ‘I only lie when it serves my interest’ is not universalised but ‘I will never break a promise for reasons of self-interest’ is universal

36
Q

What was significant about 1797?

A

Benjamin Constant argued the duty to always tell the truth would make any society impossible as we need to tell white lies for good motives

37
Q

How did Kant argue back to Benjamin Constant?

A

It would be a crime to tell a lie to a murderer who asked whether a friend who is being pursued by the murderer had taken refuge in our home

  • Constant: no one has a right to a truth that harms others
  • Kant: a lie always harms someone
38
Q

Why does Kant reject lying?

A

Honesty is the foundation of every human relationship, exchange and conversation and so lies undermine every human relationship

39
Q

Give a quote from Kant about the formula of ends

A

“Rational nature exists as an end in itself… always treat humanity… never simply as a means but always… as an end”

40
Q

Give a quote from Pope John Paul || influenced by Kant

A

“Anyone who treats a person as the means to an end does violence to the very essence of the other”

41
Q

What moral rules does Kant forbid?

A

Making moral rules which presupposes others will not treat people as ends in themselves, we should not base our universal rules on uniform degradation

42
Q

What is the core of Kant’s ethics and why?

A

The postulate of freedom (autonomy) because “it is the highest degree of life” - it means the freedom to choose moral law over our instinct or desire

43
Q

How are rational creatures free?

A

They adopt a formal law of action whereby principles are universalised and act according to universal laws not momentary impulses so rules are grasped by reason

44
Q

How are moral choices possible?

A

If people are free to make them and we are free to choose to do our duty

45
Q

Describe summum bonum

A

Kantian ethics looks towards a perfect future and summum bonum describes a future in which is beyond individual fulfilment but instead a greater future where our duty is to unite things which give a greater happiness (utilitarianism?)

46
Q

Why is it difficult to reach the highest good from the way society is now?

A

In our world people doing their duty may not find an ultimate end or happiness
Circumstances where doing the right thing leads to an untimely death
A person sacrificing their life for another

47
Q

How do we gain ultimate happiness?

A

Postulate immortality of the soul to allow for correct happiness to be ensured beyond this life

48
Q

What did Kant believe about an afterlife?

A

Humans had the opportunity for endless improvement as they are immortal and lived on in Heaven so sacrificial acts of duty are possible

49
Q

What was Kant’s views on religion?

A
  • Some elements imply God e.g. eternal law/ heavenly situation
  • Not every virtuous act would lead to happiness in the world and we may suffer despite doing the right thing
  • Committed to the Lutheran church
50
Q

Give some strengths of Kantian ethics

A
  • Duty is part of human experience
  • Declaration of human rights (intrinsic and rational worth preventing slavery)
  • Ethical practice should be based on reason
  • Categorical imperative tells us right from wrong
51
Q

Give some weaknesses of Kantian ethics

A
  • Contradicts freedom with the categorical imperative
  • Kant seems confused about whether his ethics are deontological or teleological. The basic idea is deontological but there is a future goal of the kingdom of ends
  • Some philosophers think putting duty above feeling is cold and inhuman- there is no place for love and personal relations in Kant’s theory
  • Not everyone is rational so what about mental impediment
52
Q

How does Alasdair MacIntyre criticise Kant

A

Universability principle can be used to justify practically anything

Ethics 7 (9 decks)

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