Kant and Right Theories

 Immanuel Kant
 Born on April 22, 1724 to a religious and lower middle-class family
 18th century German Philosopher
 Died on February 12, 1804 with the last words es ist gut ( it is good)
 Believed reason could be used to work out a consistent and non-overridable set of moral
principles such moral rules would be universal.
Kant’s Theory
 A right action consists solely in an action that is ruled and justified by a rule or principle.
 It was the rational and autonomous conformity of one’s will to see right the universal moral
law.
 Foundations of Metaphysics of Morals, explains the philosophical foundation of morality
and moral actions.
Kant’s Concepts of Morality:
 Goodwill
 The Notion of Duty
 Nature of Imperatives
GOODWILL
 Only thing that is good without qualification
 The intention or choice that impels a person to do what is right, because it is right. Self-
imposed through reason.

Example:

Let's say you have no class because it's holiday. Your Mother asks you to clean the house
and wash clothes for her. You either:
A. Clean the house and wash clothes because it makes her happy and you care about her
so you do it with no complaints.
B.Clean the house and wash clothes simply because you like cleaning the house and
washing clothes
C.Reluctantly clean the house and wash clothes even though you have a ton of things to
do.
 “It is not our desires that ground morality but our rational will. Reason is sufficient for
establishing the moral law as something transcendent and universally binding on all rational
creatures.” _Louis Pojman on Kant
THE NOTION OF DUTY
 Distinction between “I want” and “I ought”
 Moral actions are not spontaneous
 Kant’s duty ethics are a moral obligation which must come from within each individual.
 Considering only those actions that are seemingly good

 Universally applicable
 Exert a special force on us
 Concerned with more than just outcomes
THE NATURE OF IMPERATIVES
 Impertaives are commands
 For Kant, there exist 2 Imperatives: Hypothetical Imperative, Categorical Imperative
1) HYPOTHETICAL IMPERATIVE
- if you want, you ought. The ought or the duty is conditioned by your desires, wants and goals
- our goals are grounded in self-interest
Examples:
 “If you want to go to Medical school, study Biology in college. If you don't want to go to
Medical school, this command doesn't apply to you”.
 “If you are hungry, then go eat something. If you aren't hungry, then you are free to ignore
the command”.
2) CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE
- the general form of DO. (unconditioned)
- Single abstract principle
- Different Formulations-basic idea the same
- Intuitive, immediate, absolute injunctions that all rational agents understand by virtue of
their rationality.
- for Kant, there is only one imperative command and it is the Moral Law.
FORMULATIONS OF CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVES
 “Act only upon that maxim by which you can at the same time, will that it should become a
universal law”
 When you are choosing your rules to live by, you must make certain that these are rules you
would want the rest of the world to live by
 “So act that you treat humanity,whether in your own person or that of another, always as an
end and never as a means”
 See if your actions are using others or affecting others, in the meaning of never using them
as a means to achieve but always as an end
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
SYNTHETIC A PRIORI
 We do not follow predetermined laws. However, we must act according to some laws,
otherwise our actions are random and without purpose
 Rational beings must determine for themselves a set of laws by which they will act
 These laws are determined by experience
 The rational being has to determine the synthetic a priori-the substantive rules that can be
applied prior to experience
MORAL WORTH
 A person’s actions determine his/her moral worth
 Taking in account these aspects: background, basic idea, motivation, consequences,
interpretation
 One can have moral worth only if one is motivated by morality
“ In law, a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others; in ethics, he is guilty if
he only thinks of doing so.”
RESPECT
 Kant brought the notion of respect to the center of moral philosophy for the first time
 The proper object of respect is the will. Respecting a person involves issues related to the
will, knowledge and freedom
 Kant sees people as autonomous eaning that they give themselves their own laws
  As a person has his own laws, the disrespect of their laws is not acceptable in their code
Kant’s definitions what is right?

 “Good Will”: The intention or choice that impels a person to do what is right, because it
is right. Self-imposed through reason.
 Right Actions: Are those actions done in accordance with “Duty.”
 Duty: Action mandated by the Moral Law, Doing the things you are permitted by the
Categorical Imperative.
 Categorical Imperative: A Moral “Test” for Rightness of an Act.
 An action has “Moral Worth” if it conforms to the requirements of duty, and is done for
the sake of duty, and not for some other intention.
In Kant’s terms, there is a difference between an action being Blameworthy, Acceptable, and
Praiseworthy.

 Blameworthy - Act Wrongly

 Acceptable – Act Rightly but not from Right Motive
 Praiseworthy – Act Rightly and from Right Motive (Good Will)
REMEMBER:
 REASON- foundation of ethical living
 GOODWILL- source of ethical living
 DUTY- motivation of ethical living
KANTIAN ETHICS AND RELIGION
 Religion for Kant is the openness of ethics to the complementary strength that is provided by
hope
 The reconciliation of ethucs and hope, the task of fulfilling one's duty and the gift of
happiness that one cannot gain by one's effort alone
A “religion is not true to itself”, according to Kant, if it goes against what man “ought to
do” as defined by his/her autonomous reason and goodwill that reaches for universalizability.
Only false religion falls unreasonably to superstition and does away with duty as an obligation
for his/her goodwill. It is, therefore, such Kantian Ethics that is foundational for religion and not
vice versa.

Two (2) Approaches to Moral Reasoning

1. Teleological
 related to the study of evidences of design in nature; relating to the use of design or purpose
as an explanation of natural phenomena. Consequences can make an act right –
Utilitarianism
 holds that the basic standard of morality is precisely the value of what an action brings into
being
2. Deontological
 derived from Greek word “deon” means duty and “logos” means science
 related to the theory or study of moral obligation. Certain features of act or rule make it right
or wrong. Ends do not justify means.
 the rightness or wrongness of actions does not depend on their consequences but on whether
they fulfill their duty