Kantian Ethics

Deontology
 Different Kinds of Ethical
Theories
• Teleological (Consequentialism) —
– Actions are considered moral in light of their
consequences (or intended consequences).
• Deontological —
– Actions are considered moral in light of their
motivations (reasons or causes)
 Consequentialism
• Classic Utilitarianism
– Mill, Bentham, G. E. Moore
– We ought to seek happiness or pleasure (i.e.,
the good)
– Greatest happiness for the greatest number in
the long term
 Consequentialism
• Problems for Classic Utilitarianism
– Different qualities of happiness or pleasure?
– Can we quantify happiness?
– Are the calculations feasible?
– Trolley Problem?
 The Good Will
“There is no possibility of thinking anything
at all in the world, or even out of it, which can
be regarded as good without qualification,
except, a good will.” (957)
 The Good Will
• Will is a faculty that determines action
• Any alleged intrinsic good must be
combined with a good will (motives)
• True function of reason is to produce a will
that is good in itself.
• Rejects Hume’s claim that “reason alone
can never be a motive to any action of the
will”
 Duty
• Spinoza and Hume:
– Good and evil are primary; actions are right as
they lead to a good result
• Kant
– Duty (right/wrong, obligation) are primary; the
good man is one who habitually acts according
to duty
 Duty
• An action must be done from duty to have
any moral worth.
• An action done from duty has its moral
worth, not in the purpose…but in the
maxim according to which the action is
determined.
• Duty is the necessity of an action done out
of respect for the law. (961)
 The a priori Law
“The pre-eminent good which is called moral
can consist in nothing but the representation
of the law itself, and such a representation can
admittedly be found only in a rational being
insofar as this representation, and not some
expected effect is the determining ground of
the will.” (961)
 The Imperative
• The law or duty must be objectively
necessary, hence, in accord with reason.
• “The representation of an objective
principle insofar as it necessitates the will is
called a command (of reason), and the
formula of the command is called an
imperative.” (967)
 Imperatives
• Hypothetical
– Presents an action as a means for some other
end.
• Categorical
– Presents an action as an end in itself.
– Objectively necessary without reference to any
purpose
– Synthetic a priori propositions (971)
 The Categorical Imperative
“Act only according to the maxim whereby
you can at the same time will that it should
become a universal law.”
or
“Act as if the maxim of your action were to
become through your will a universal law of
nature.”
 Case 1
• Not committing suicide
– Maxim: From self-love I make as my principle
to shorten my life when its continued duration
threatens more evil than it promises
satisfaction.
– Contradiction: a system of nature whose law
would destroy life by means of the same feeling
that promotes life.
 Case 2
• Keeping Promises
– Maxim: When I believe I need money I will
borrow it and promise to pay it back even
though I know I can’t.
– Contradiction: If everyone did this, there
would be no basis for promise-keeping.
 Case 3
• Cultivating One’s Talents
– Maxim: I shall neglect my natural gifts and
indulge in pleasure.
– Contradiction: “as a rational being he
necessarily wills that all his faculties should be
developed” as much as they can be.
 Case 4
• Benefiting Others
– Maxim: Though things are going well for me, I
won’t help others who are less fortunate
– Contradiction: “a will which resolved in this
way would contradict itself, inasmuch as cases
might often arise in which one would have need
of the love and sympathy of others and in
which he would deprive himself…of all hope of
the aid he wants for himself.”
 Practical Imperative
• Every rational being is an end in itself by its
very nature as a rational being.
• “Act in such a way that you treat humanity,
whether in your own person orin the person
of another, always at the same time as an
end and never simply as a means.” (976)
 Kingdom of Ends
• “all rational beings stand under the law that
each of them should treat himself and all
others never nearly as a means but always
at the same time as an end in himself.”
• “a systematic union of all rational beings
through common objective laws”
 Summary
• Reason’s function is to produce a good will
• The will of a rational being determines
one’s actions.
• Right acts are those done according to one’s
duty.
• Duties are expressed through maxims that
serve as objectively necessary laws.
• These maxims must fit the form of a
categorical imperative (universalizable).
 Freedom of the Will?
• Will is a kind of cause belonging to rational
beings
• The empirical world of appearance must be
understood through laws of nature
(determinism).
• The self as a thing in itself is unknowable
and not subject to causal (or any)
explanation.
“…a rational being must regard himself qua
intelligence…as belonging not to the world of
sense but to the world of understanding.
Therefore he has two standpoints from which
he can regard himself and know laws of the
use of his powers and hence of all his actions;
first, insofar as he belongs to the world of
sense subject to the laws of nature
(heteronomy); secondly, insofar as he belongs
to the intelligible world subject to laws which,
independent of nature, are not empirical but
are founded only on reason.” (987)
 Freedom and Necessity
• Freedom is an idea of reason whose
objective reality is questionable
• For practical purposes the idea of freedom
is necessary for rational conduct.
• Must assume “no real contradiction”
between freedom and natural necessity