PoM Week 5

Question 1

What imperatives tell us what we OUGHT to do?

Answer 1

Categorical

Question 2

A moral action is commendable if it goes against our __

Answer 2

Inclinations

Question 3

A.C. Ewing: “It is hard to believe that it could ever be a duty deliberately to produce less good when we could produce more.” What is he criticising?

Answer 3

Kantianism honours values, meaning that no amount of evil can be justified, even if it prevents a greater evil - necessary evil.

Question 4

What is the Kantian response to the problem of conflicting duties?

Answer 4

Ought implies can - there can be no obligation to do the impossible or the contradictory, because the duty would cease to be perfect.

Question 5

What is the gerrymandering criticism of Kantian ethics?

Answer 5

People manipulate the boundaries e.g. “I will lie when it benefits me to do so.”

Question 6

What does spurious prohibitions mean?

Answer 6

Some things fail the contradiction of conception test but are not immoral. E.g. withdrawing money from the bank, wouldn’t make sense if we all did it all the time.