Kantian Ethics

Introduction to PhilosophyJason M. Chang

Lecture Outline

1. Background

2. Kant on moral worth

3. Acting from duty

4. The categorical imperative

Background

• Biography

• Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785)

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

Kant on moral worth

Kant on moral worth

Imagine that you are waiting to cross a busy street. Next to you is an old lady struggling to carry her grocery bags.

You decide to help the lady cross the street. In fact, you help carry her bags to her house only several blocks away.

Does this act have moral worth?

Kant on moral worth

UtilitarianOf course – assuming that it generates the greatest happiness

KantianIt depends!

Does the act have moral

worth?

Kant on moral worth

Kant on moral worth

• Act with moral worth = act performed from the right motive

• What this implies

Kant on moral worth

Kant on moral worth

The motive is the only thing that matters when determining whether an act has moral worth

What does it mean to act from the right motive?

Acting from duty

Acting from duty

Human beings can act from inclination

• Desires (for happiness, recognition, success, power, companionship)

• Emotions (love, compassion,

anger)Capacity to act from desires and emotions

I help the old lady…

• From my desire for money

• From my desire for my happiness

• For my desire for companionship

• Out of compassion

Are human beings capable of acting from something other than desire or

emotion?

Acting from duty

Human beings can act from reason

• Rationality

Can act “out of principle”

Can act out of respect for what morality requires

I help the old lady…

• Out of respect for what morality requires

• Because it is the right thing to do

Acting from duty

If I help the old lady…

• From my desire for money• From my desire for my

happiness• For my desire for

companionship

• Out of compassion or emotionIf I help the old lady…

• Because it is the right thing to do

• Out of respect for what morality requires

Acting according to

duty(No moral

worth)

Acting from duty

(Moral worth)

Acting from duty

To do what morality requires NOT because it is the right thing to do, but to fulfill a desire or achieve an outcome

Acting according to

duty

Acting from duty

To do what morality requires because it is the right thing to do (i.e., acting out of respect for what morality requires)

• An act has moral worth only if it is performed from the right motive

• Human beings can do the right thing either from inclination (desires, emotions) or from reason

• Doing the right thing from inclination = acting according to duty Doing the right thing from reason = acting from duty

• Acting from duty = acting out of respect for the moral law

The moral law(The categorical

imperative)

The categorical imperative

About the categorical imperative

• Supreme principle of morality

• The law we respect when acting from duty

• Can be phrased in three different ways

The categorical imperative

Second formulation

“Act as you treat humanity, whether your own person or in the person of any other, as an end and never as a means only.”

(Humanity formula)

Major ideas:

1. Treating others as an end

2. Treating others never as a means only

The categorical imperative

“Treating others as an end”

• Background

o Humans as having intrinsic value

• What it means to “treat others as an end”

o To treat or view a person in a manner that recognizes their intrinsic value (i.e., having value independent of their usefulness, race, gender, accomplishments, etc.)

The categorical imperative

“Treating others as a means only”

• What it means to “treat others as a means only”

o To view or treat a person as having value only because of their usefulness

The categorical imperative

Second formulation

“Act as you treat humanity, whether your own person or in the person of any other, as an end and never as a means only.”

(Humanity formula)

Translation

Always treat yourself and others in a manner that is consistent with their intrinsic value as persons

The categorical imperative

Second formulation

“Act as you treat humanity, whether your own person or in the person of any other, as an end and never as a means only.”

(Humanity formula)

Examples acts forbidden by the second formulation

• Murder• Casual sex• Suicide• Masturbation

The categorical imperative

First formulation

“Act always in a way that we can will the principle of our action to become a universal law.”

(Universal law formula)

Major ideas:

Universal law

A universal law is a moral principle that everyone will accept

The categorical imperative

Particular individuals

Disagree about moral principles

Individuals who recognize their intrinsic worth

Agree on ways they want to be treated and ways not to be

treated

The categorical imperative

Individuals who recognize their intrinsic worth

Demand that they be treated in a manner that is

consistent with their intrinsic worth

Demand that they are not killed, lied to, raped, stolen

from, disrespected, or used as a means

only

The categorical imperative

First formulation

“Act always in a way that we can will the principle of our action to become a universal law.”

(Universal law formula)

Translation

Always treat others in a manner that all beings that recognize their intrinsic worth demand to be treated