Lesson 8: Deontology, Kant And Rights Flashcards
- Moral theory that evaluates actions that are done because of duty
- Ethical theory that uses rules to distinguish right from wrong
Deontology
- This imperative commands conditionally on you having a relevant desire
- Applies to an individual only if they desire a certain end and has chosen (willed) to act on that desire
Hypothetical Imperative
- Unconditional commands
- Commands or moral laws all persons must follow, regardless of their desires or extenuating circumstances
Categorical Imperative
- He intended to develop what is called the supreme principle of morality
- Father of Deontology
Immanuel Kant
- A person who has the ability to discern right from wrong and to be held accountable for his or her own actions.
- They have a moral responsibility not to cause unjustified harm.
Moral Agents
- An individual’s ability to make moral choices based on some notion of right and wrong and to be held accountable for these actions.
- This capacity can be found in individuals or collective entities like businesses or health care institutions
Moral Agency
- The capacity for mental abstraction, rising from operations of reason
- According to Kant, this is the faculty that humans have that is the capacity to act according to principles that we determine for ourselves
- With this faculty, one can act in a manner that is consistent with reason
Rational Will
- A will whose decisions are wholly determined by moral demands or Moral Law
- It is the only thing that cannot be corrupted in the way that other values can be
- The intention or choice that impels a person to do what is right and self-imposed through reasons
Good Will
Good Will and Consequences
- To act out a good will means to act out a sense of moral obligation or duty
- Consequences don’t matter in moral assessments and are irrelevant in calculating the moral worth of an act, only good intentions matter
What intrinsic statuses that gives someone rights?
- Humanity
- Sentience
- Being an image of God
- Being alive
- Rational Autonomy
This theory maintains that there are things we cannot do against individuals because they are holders of moral rights
Rights Theory
- Something you have as a human being/something you are entitled to
- Justified claims for the protection of general interests.
Right
Types of Rights:
- Legal Right
- Human Right
- Contractual Right
Types of Rights Theories:
- According to realist views
- According to constructivist
- According to consequentialist theories of rights
Perfect Rights vs Imperfect Rights
Perfect Rights
Enforceable by law
Imperfect Rights
Not enforceable by law
Positive Rights vs Negative Rights
Positive Rights
- Impose a positive duty to act in a certain way
Negative Rights
- Impose negative duty
- A duty to not do anything; non-interference
Real Rights vs Personal Rights
Real Rights
- A right that is enforceable against the whole world
Personal Rights
- A right that is enforceable against a specific person or legal entity
Inheritable Rights vs Uninhertiable Rights
Inheritable Rights
Can be passed from one generation to another, i.e. this right survives even after the death of its owner
Uninheritable Rights
Die with the death of its owner
Are those moral rights of humans as such, rights that humans have in virtue of being human
Human Rights
- Moral rights that humans (in the moral sense) have because of their nature, or in virtue of being human
- These are sometimes said to be rights that humans have, or would have, in a pre-political “state of nature.”
Natural Rights
- The ability to reflect objectively and abstractly and then on basis of the reflection to direct our lives with free choice.
Rational Autonomy
The choice that can be determined by pure reason
Free Choice
Human Choice and Human Freedom:
- Human choice, in contrast, is a choice may indeed be affected but not only determined by impulses, and is therefore in itself not pure, but can nevertheless be determined to do actions from pure will
- We admit to two possible causes of our actions: sensible impulses and the faculty of reason. Human freedom resides in that distinction.
