User:Atcovi/Ethics/Lecture6

Immanuel Kant is a 1700s philosopher that remains one of the most influential philosophers of Western philosophy. This page will discuss his principle of Deontology. Kant, unlike Hume, believed reason is the developing factor of morality.


 * Deontology = "science of duty"

Kant believes that we must perform/abstain from an act because of your humanic duties. Kant believes that there is a universal code of morality and does NOT believe in cultural relativism.

Good Will
We first need to find things that are good without qualification. Money is good if its used for good or if its used for bad. A "will" is "an action that arises from rational delibration". Every act of will has a maxim (you do it or not). Kant wants to find a "universal criteria" where maxims are morally correct/incorrect - and use this as an ethical template for the world.

A "good will" is an act of will that is morally correct and done with sound reason - independent of outside forces which are objective.

Categoral Imperative (1st formulation)

 * 1) Create a general maxim of our action (I must keep/not keep my promise)
 * 2) Univeralize that maxim (What if every human being kept/did not keep his promise?)
 * 3) Does that action lead to a contradiction in the action itself? (if everyone stopped keeping their promise simply bcuz it didn't benefit themselves, then promises are useless and are contradictory)

Categoral Imperative (2nd formulation)

 * 1) Act in such a way that you treat humanity always at the same time as an end and never simply as a means (using them vs. actually being real). Lying is an example of this as you are restricting someone's free judgement (using them as a means) for a particular situation [ie. cheating on your wife and keeping it a secret].

The ultimate meeting of all objective, moral laws = Kingdom of Ends.

Advantages

 * Timeless
 * Black & white solution
 * Human being's autonomy (unrestricted judgement) is #1.
 * Basic human rights

Disadvantages

 * When univeralizing maxims, overly-specifying your situation (me, as a 19 year old brown boy living in [my address]) can get you out of Kant's deontology.
 * The last step of the 1st formulation appeals to consequences.
 * Meg, Ryan & Martha story - either Meg is a means to an end (she dies) or Ryan is (lying is ok in this case).