 Thinkof as many different motivations

as you can for why this person might

be helping someone:
“Do your duty
though the
heavens fall.”
Immanuel Kant
 Kant was basically a really weird guy.
 He was born in a tiny village in
Germany called Königsberg, and never
travelled more than 10 miles outside
of it during his entire life.
 Hehad a very strict routine – the story
goes that local people in Königsberg
used to set their watches by the time
Kant went by on this daily walk!
 BUT he is perhaps the most influential
philosopher of the past 300 years.
Means acting in accordance
with the CATEGORICAL
IMPERATIVE.
Infact, as is well known as the
supreme principle of MORALITY.
An act is moral if it is done in
accordance with the categorical
imperative.
Two Types of Imperative:
Hypothetical is the one that expresses a
conditional command. EX. If you want to
become successful, then you have to work very
hard.

Categorical is the one that expresses an absolute

command. Ex. Do not be late, this command
does not pose a condition as it does not contain
an if- then clause.
 The Good Will
 Is the one that facilitates a human act. The
good will, therefore, is good without
qualification. It is good without any
condition.
 Ex. The will to help a friend.
 Duty and the Moral Worth of an Act
 Kant argues that duty should be the motive
of any moral act. Inclination or self- interest
can never be the motive of any moral act.
 Ex. Physician treats a patient, the motive
should be “duty” not the interest of profiting
from the patient herself.
 For Kant, only those actions that are done
for the sake of duty have moral worth.
Formulations of
the Categorical
Imperative
 “Act only on that maxim whereby you can at the same time
will that is should become a universal law”
 It means the principle of universality commands that every
maxim someone acts on must be such that others are willing
to make when in a similar situation.
 E.g. The act of stealing the properties of the rich and
distribute them to the poor.
 E.g the act of helping a friend in times of need.-
universalizable
 We have to ask ourselves, “What if everybody did that?”
 E.g. murder cannot be universalized – if everybody murdered
people who they did not like then there would be no people
left!
 Lying cannot be universalized – if everybody lied then nobody
would believe what anybody says, and lying would be
pointless!
 “So act as to treat humanity whether in your
own person or in that of another never as
means but always as an end.”
 Any act that treats humanity as a means is not
morally right.
 E.g. The act of cheating someone is absolutely
immoral because this acts treats others as a
means, that is, the other is treated as thing.
 If we cheat on others, then we are treating
them as means to our own selfish end.
 What are our duties?
 Which of these acts follow principles that could be
universalized, and which depend on people’s desire for
certain consequences?
1. A shopkeeper gives a customer the right change because
he likes the customer.
2. A shopkeeper gives a customer the right change because
he thinks this is part of what all shopkeepers ought to do.
3. A shopkeeper gives a customer the right change because
he wants to maintain a good reputation.