DUTY ETHICS

IMMANUEL KANT

• One of the most influential thinkers in modern

philosophy who synthesized the early modern
rationalism and empiricism.
• He advocates for the importance of the self or
individuals over the imposed rules and external
commands.
• Kant invites people to go back to the self since just
like the authorities we are fully capable of using our
reason.
• Kant’s Theory of Morality is classified to be
deontological since he teaches Morality to be duty
or obligation.
DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS

• It is an ethical theory that states it is possible to determine

the rightness or wrongness of actions by examining actions
themselves, without focusing on their consequences.
• Deontology comes from the Greek word “deon” which
means duty or obligation, morality is based upon the doer’s
obligation.
• The nature of the act itself, regardless of the consequences
is the only relevan factor for moral evaluation.
KNOWLEDGE OF THE PRINCIPLES OF
MORALITY IS A “PRIORI”

• Kant identifies two types of knowledge “A Posteriori” and “A

Priori”.
• A posteriori knowledge refers to those knowledge possessed
through experience or after experience. This anchor to the
belief of the empiricists.
• A priori knowledge is a knowledge that is not based on
observation of the physical world. It exists in the mind before
any experience with or observation of the physical world.
GOOD WILL

• Anything that is bad for Kant is bad, but some actions we

consider to be good may not really be good and has to be
qualified.
• The only thing in this world which is good in itself is the ‘good
will’.
• The good will is something internal to us and it is the most
important to determine the moral worth of an action.
• “For when moral value is being considered, the concern is not
with the actions, which are seen, but rather with their inner
principles, which are not seen.”
AUTONOMY OF THE WILL

• It is when one does good actions by virtue of its own

will and free from any dictates of external influences
such as command and rewards.
• If anyone’s ‘will’ is not free from any dictate or
external influences or external motive, the will is
called by Kant as “Heteronomy of the Will.” If one’s
will tend to choose some act for a corresponding
reward or punishment.
CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVES

• It refers to the commands you must follow

irrespective of your desires and motives. It is an
absolute moral obligation derived from pure reason.

• Hypothetical Imperative are moral commands that

re conditional on personal desire or motive. You
should follow if you want something. Teach us how to
achieve a specific goal.
UNIVERSAL VALIDITY OF MAXIM

• Kant urges us to craft our own imperatives free from

dictates of any external influence. However, we should not
only craft any imperative without considering its universal
validity.
• Act as if the maxim of your action were to become through
your will a universal law of nature.
• Making maxims should undergo some sort of “thought
experiments” to know whether these become universal
laws.
MORALITY IS A DUTY

• Among many questions in Ethics, asking the question “Why one

should do good?”
• For Kant it is our duty to do good. We do good for goodness
sake and nothing else, not for happiness, not because it is our
inclination, not because of a reward and not because of any
external influence.
• Do good and avoid evil even if it does not make you happy or
even if it were harmful to you, we do good because it is what we
ought to do, it is our duty.
TREAT HUMANITY AS ENDS
AND NEVER AS MEANS

• It is observable that Kant gives emphasis on the self

over others into becoming authentic moral person.
However, it doesn’t mean that Kant gives no regards
for others.
• “Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in
your own person or in the person of another, always
at the same time as an end and never simply as a
means.”