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ETHICS > KANTIAN ETHICS ESSAY PLANS > Flashcards

KANTIAN ETHICS ESSAY PLANS Flashcards

1
Q

KANTIAN ETHICS IS TOO ABSTRACT: DISCUSS

INTRODUCTION

A
  • IMMANUEL KANT’S (1724-1804) ETHICAL THEORY WAS AN AMBITIOUS RESPONSE TO A SCIENTIFIC ERA THAT CHALLENGED THE EXISTENCE OF MORAL KNOWLEDGE
  • “GROUNDWORK FOR THE METAPHYSICS OF MORALS” (1785) AND “CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON” (1787), KANT’S ETHICS WERE BASED ON REASON AND RATIONALITY, NOT RELYING ON RELIGIOUS DOCTRINE
  • HOWEVER DESPITE ITS PERSUASIVE LOGICAL APPEAL ITS PROBLEMATIC IMPLICATIONS MAKE IT TOO FAR ABSTRACT AND UNHELPFUL TO BE APPLIED IN THE REAL WORLD
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2
Q

Point

KANTIAN ETHICS IS TOO ABSTRACT: DISCUSS

NATURE OF KANTIAN ETHICS

A

The deontological and absolutist nature of Kantian Ethics is too abstract

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3
Q

Explain

KANTIAN ETHICS IS TOO ABSTRACT: DISCUSS

NATURE OF KANTIAN ETHICS

A

For Kant, actions are right + wrong in themselves and therefore not determined by the consequence they bring about. They are fixed and universal

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4
Q

Strengths

KANTIAN ETHICS IS TOO ABSTRACT: DISCUSS

NATURE OF KANTIAN ETHICS

A
  • Thomas Nagel, “Possibility of Altruism: “common moral intuition recognises several deontological reasons- limits on what one may do to people or how one may treat them”
  • Basically: in daily life, we generally assume that there are fixed moral duties and we expect others to comply with them eg. Expect loyalty + fairness
  • Kant’s absolutism avoids problem of moral relativism, where the meaning of goodness depends on attitudes of a particular society, culture, individual, therefore meaning inequality and equality are moral equivalents
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5
Q

Weaknesses

KANTIAN ETHICS IS TOO ABSTRACT: DISCUSS

NATURE OF KANTIAN ETHICS

A
  • Absolutist nature isn’t flexible and therefore impractical.
  • Refusal to consider consequences at all is unhelpful- what if certain actions have horrendous results?
  • The rigid deontology leaves an individual with no flexibility and no chance to consider individual circumstances
  • Kantian ethics demands absolute truthfulness- deeply impractical. Benjamin Constant said that a society without lies is impossible. He argues we need to tell lies for good motives
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6
Q

KANTIAN ETHICS IS TOO ABSTRACT: DISCUSS

NATURE OF KANTIAN ETHICS: CONCLUSION

A
  • Therefore, while it offers possibility of moral clarity, the unrealistic expectations + impractical implications makes the nature of Kantian Ethics too abstract and unhelpful in real world
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7
Q

Point

KANTIAN ETHICS IS TOO ABSTRACT: DISCUSS

GOOD WILL AND DUTY

A

Idea of Duty and Good Will is also too abstract

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8
Q

Explain

KANTIAN ETHICS IS TOO ABSTRACT: DISCUSS

GOOD WILL AND DUTY

A

-A person of good will is a person who makes decisions according to moral law
-For Kant the only good motivation is to do what’s right- a moral act influences by emotion, reward or consequences is not truly moral
- However, his obsession with doing things for ‘duty’s sake’ ultimately can never work in a society

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9
Q

Strengths

KANTIAN ETHICS IS TOO ABSTRACT: DISCUSS

GOOD WILL AND DUTY

A
  • Kant’s distinction between duty and inclination could be seen as useful as our inclinations and desires about what we want aren’t necessarily the same as what is right
  • Duty and good will demand we put our feelings aside in order to do the right thing
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10
Q

Weaknesses

KANTIAN ETHICS IS TOO ABSTRACT: DISCUSS

GOOD WILL AND DUTY

A

-Arguably unrealistic and dehumanising - Kant tries to remove emotion, sympathy and reward from human behaviour

-He reduces moral behaviour to something very mechanistic cold and abstract

-Singer criticises Kant for this and argues that the idea of ‘duty for its own sake’ leads to a ‘closed’ system in which people do not inquire into the reasons for our actions- he regards this as dangerous

-Without sympathy, Singer claims that the idea of duty can lead to moral fanaticism- the elevation of a perceived duty above all consideration

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11
Q

conclusion

KANTIAN ETHICS IS TOO ABSTRACT: DISCUSS

GOOD WILL AND DUTY

A

Therefore, the idea of good will is not just unrealistic and impractical but arguably a dangerous abstraction of what it means to be human, where duties are more valuable than humans

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12
Q

Point

KANTIAN ETHICS IS TOO ABSTRACT: DISCUSS

FORMULA OF THE UNIVERSAL LAW OF NATURE

A

It is ultimately too abstract:
“Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law”

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13
Q

Explain

KANTIAN ETHICS IS TOO ABSTRACT: DISCUSS

FORMULA OF THE UNIVERSAL LAW OF NATURE:

A

o Kant uses many examples to apply his formula e.g
- A man who has received a deposit, the owner of which who has died and left no record of it
- Kant’s formula shows the maxim “everyone may deny a deposit which no one can prove has been made” cannot be universalised as it would “annihilate itself since it would bring about there would be no deposits at all”

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14
Q

Strengths

KANTIAN ETHICS IS TOO ABSTRACT: DISCUSS

FORMULA OF THE UNIVERSAL LAW OF NATURE

A
  • It is a logical way of determining moral duties as it avoids self-defeating and contradictory maxims
  • Arguably provides useful principle in making moral decisions
  • Bears some similarities to the golden rule of religion- “treat others how you would wish them to treat you”: treats each person equally and stops us making special cases
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15
Q

Weaknesses

KANTIAN ETHICS IS TOO ABSTRACT: DISCUSS

FORMULA OF THE UNIVERSAL LAW OF NATURE

A
  • It is better at showing us things we ought not to do rather than showing what we should do
  • There are a number of strange maxims that could be universalised: there is no logical contradiction about ‘standing on one leg every Wednesday’, yet this is not really a moral duty
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16
Q

Weaknesses: Louis Pojman

KANTIAN ETHICS IS TOO ABSTRACT: DISCUSS

FORMULA OF THE UNIVERSAL LAW OF NATURE

A
  • Louis Pojman: Ethics: Discovering Right and Wrong (2012), Pojman exposes a problem with Kant’s formula
  • Kant argued his formulas would prohibit suicide as he thinks you can’t universalise ‘Whenever it looks like one might experience more pain then pleasure, one ought to kill oneself’ cause 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”
  • While Kant may oppose suicide, his categorical imperative doesnt
17
Q

Conclusion

KANTIAN ETHICS IS TOO ABSTRACT: DISCUSS

FORMULA OF THE UNIVERSAL LAW OF NATURE:

A
  • This formula leads to absurd and unhelpful duties
    -It just can’t work practically- a maxim can ve selfish or even cruel but it doesn’t break the rules of the categorical imperative
18
Q

Point

KANTIAN ETHICS IS TOO ABSTRACT: THE FORMULA OF THE KINGDOM OF ENDS

A
  • This formula is arguably his most abstract
  • ‘Accordingly every rational being must so act as if he were through his maxims always a law making member in the kingdom of ends’
19
Q

Explain

KANTIAN ETHICS IS TOO ABSTRACT: THE FORMULA OF THE KINGDOM OF ENDS

A
  • Kant forbids us from making a moral rule to assumes others will not treat people as ends in themselves
  • Kant argues we shouldn’t base our universal laws on uniform degradation
  • Kant’s thinking on the significance of the human person makes it impossile to have universal disregard for people
  • The Kingdom of Ends should be the world we are imagining we are searching for universal laws
20
Q

Strength

KANTIAN ETHICS IS TOO ABSTRACT: THE FORMULA OF THE KINGDOM OF ENDS

A
  • Makes human rights possible
21
Q

Weaknesses

KANTIAN ETHICS IS TOO ABSTRACT: THE FORMULA OF THE KINGDOM OF ENDS

A
  • Doesn’t practically work in a world where people act in an immoral way
  • In reality, civil societies must pre-empt injustice and criminality to prevent suffering and harm
22
Q

Conclusion

KANTIAN ETHICS IS TOO ABSTRACT: THE FORMULA OF THE KINGDOM OF ENDS

A
  • Too theoretical and therefore too abstract
23
Q

KANTIAN ETHICS ARE TOO ABSTRACT
CONCLUSION

A
  • Despite Kantian ethics attempting to provide clear logical duties that can be followed in order to ensure human rights, it is too abstract and theoretical to be applied in the real world.

ETHICS (7 decks)

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