KANT’S

DEONTOLOGICAL
ETHICS
IMMANUEL KANT
Immanuel Kant was born on April 22, 1724, in Konigsberg, Prussia, or
what is now Kaliningrad, Russia. While tutoring, he published science
papers, including "General Natural History and Theory of the Heavens
" in 1755. He spent the next 15 years as a metaphysics lecturer. In 178
1, he published the first part of Critique of Pure Reason. He published
more critiques in the years preceding his death on February 12, 1804,
in the city of his birth.

IMMANUEL KANT
1724 - 1804
 Deontology
❑The term deontology comes from the
Greek word deon, meaning duty.
❑The theory of deontology states we a
re morally obligated to act in accorda
nce with a certain set of principles an
d rules regardless of outcome.
 Deontology
❑In religious deontology, the principles derive fr
om divine commandment so that under religio
us laws, we are morally obligated not to steal, li
e, or cheat.
❑Unlike religious deontological theories, the rul
es (or maxims) in Kant’s deontological theory
derive from human reason.
In January 2017, Reggie Cabututan drove
Australian businessman, Trent Shields, to his
destination in Baguio City. In a rush, Shields
inadvertently left his luggage containing crucial
items like his passport, Macbook Pro, money,
and important documents valued at around ₱1
million.

Unbeknownst to Shields, Cabututan discovered

the forgotten luggage in his car. Instead of
keeping it, he went through the trouble of
tracking down Shields' contact information
based on snippets of their conversation during
the ride.
“ Morality is not properly the doctrine of how we
may make ourselves happy, but how we may
make ourselves worthy of happiness.
“

IMMANUEL KANT
1724 - 1804
 The notion
of duty
Morality
Good
will

Nature of
imperatives
Kant’s Concept
Kant wanted to work out what is good in A good will is to “act for the sake of
itself. duty.”

Good will is the only thing that Kant “It is impossible to conceive anything
terms as “Good without qualification” at all in the world which can be taken
as good without qualification except a
good will.”

Good Will
•Distinction between “I want” and “I ought”.

•Moral actions are not spontaneous, if I see someone in need of help, I may be incline
d to look the other way, but I will recognize that my duty is to help.

•Considering only those actions that are seemingly good according to Kant are actions
that seem good by duty, that are good to my common sense of duty and for that they
are right.

The Notion of Duty

•Imperatives are commands
•For Kant there is only one imperative command and it is
the Moral Law.
•For Kant there exist 2:
Hypothetical Imperatives
Categorical Imperatives

The Nature of Imperatives

CATEGORICAL VS. HYPOTHETICAL
The categorical imperative is to act for the sake of
duty only.
Whereas the hypothetical imperative is acting in order
to receive some kind of reward.
Kant argues that the categorical imperative is the only
good way to act.
For example, one should help an old lady to cross the
road simply because it is a good thing to do, not be
cause it will make you feel good.
Even if a good act makes you feel good, this is not
a reward, it is a bonus according to Kant.
Hypothetical Imperative
Hypothetical Imperative
▪ Not all imperatives falls under moral
choice
▪ Sometimes we do actions because it is
just contingent on our desires
▪ Not really morally binding

Source: https://st4.depositphotos.com/9867658/20629/v/
1600/depositphotos_206291872-stock-illustration-vector
-illustration-young-male-guy.jpg

Source: https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-ec
e51434a7ca6c343bf11016d2cebbb7
Categorical imperative is a moral law that is unconditional
or absolute for all agents, the validity or claim of which does
not depend on any ulterior motive or end.

Categorical imperative
Categorical Imperative
▪Commands you must follow regardless of desire
▪Moral obligations derived from pure reason
▪Identify right and wrong using intellect or logic
▪Three (3) Formulations of Kant’s Categorical Impera
tive:
▪ The Universability Principle
▪ The Formula of Humanity
▪ The Kingdom of Ends
 The Universability Principle
The First Formulation of the Imperative

“Act only according to that maxim whereby yo

u can at the same time will that it should beco
me a universal law without contradiction.”
Source: https://www.icytales.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/nyu-professor-catches-

▪ Maxim – rule or principle of action 20-of-his-students-cheating-and-hes-the-one-who-pays-for-it.jpg

▪ Universal law – What supposed to be

done in any similar situation
▪ Act if it makes sense for you to will it
▪ You are “universalizing” the action

Source: https://jooinn.com/images/lying-1.jpg
 The Formula of Humanity
The Second Formulation of the Imperative

“Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your

own person or in the person of any other, never merely as
Source: https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/construction-egyptian-pyramids-slaves-mov
e-blocks-building-vector-illustration-egypt-passover-carrying-bricks-142500217.jpg

a means to an end but always at the same time as an end.”

▪ Mere Means – to use it only for own benefit of the
thing you are using
▪ A person has dreams, hopes, goals and desires like
you
▪ Human should never be mere means as humans ar
e ends in ourselves (but can be use as means)
▪ To recognize human autonomy is recognizing
human as end
Source: https://mediacloud.kiplinger.com/image/private/s--32lPco_---
/v1580370271/kipimages/pages/2259.jpg
 The Kingdom of Ends
The Third Formulation of the Imperative

“Therefore, every rational being must so act as

if he were through his maxim always a legislat
ing member in the universal kingdom of en Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOoJ9Cq3oKM
ds.”
▪ Kingdom of ends – where perfect
rational beings belong
▪ Your action will contribute to the nor
mal behavior, you are, as if, legislating
it Source: https://cdn-images 1.medium.com/max/2000/1*KiC1gf3x3Ia
_2PBYqfkLBg.jpeg

▪ As member of the Kingdom of Ends, set a

n example and act upon good will
 How to follow these
formulations?
•Kant gives some examples to use these formulations in actual situations, these examples
are divided in duties:
•Duties Toward Oneself: to ensure self preservation which are perfect (suicide), and for
self-cultivation which are imperfect (promise-breaking).
•Duties Toward Others: strict and obligation which are perfect (school work) and
beneficence which are imperfect.

Categorical imperative
 Summum Bonum
•The Summum Bonum is the highest good that everyone (according to Kant)
should strive towards.

•It is a conjunction between happiness and virtue. It is a reward for doing

duty for duty’s sake.

Categorical imperative
 Maxims & Universalisability
A maxim is an absolute moral statement; Kant stated that t
hese had to be universalisable. For example do not murd
er.

Universalisability is the ability to use a maxim everywhere,

and by everyone so that the maxim is never broken.

For example, for Kant the Decalogue is a set of maxims

which should be universal.
Categorical imperative
Kant gave four examples of how self love cannot be universalised:

•The first is a man who wants to commit suicide but questions if this
goes against a duty to himself.
•A man borrows money knowing he cannot pay it back despite
promising to do so.
• A talented man decides to ignore his talent and does nothing to f
urther himself, he also questions whether this is duty to himself.
•One man is happy and flourishing in his life but doesn’t care about
anyone else; he will not give other people help.
SITUATION:

What would kantian ethics say on a male professor a

sking leud questions to his students for his personal
consumption?