» WJEC Theology 15th June 2016 RS3 & RS4 » Religious Studies - H173, H573 (from 2016) AS new spec only!!! There have been, and continue to be, many books and journal articles written about Kant’s ethics. It is something that is, A good will is good not because of what it effects or accomplishes — because of its fitness for attaining some proposed end: it is good through its willing alone — that is, good in itself. He eats and plays and sleeps when he desires to do so, there is no reasoning on his part. If a maxim does not do this then it too has failed the test and cannot be part of the moral law. 74So the point is not that these sorts of examples are “knock down” criticisms of Kant’s theory but rather that Kant’s theory is underspecified and fails to give guidance with these specific sorts of cases. Consider then, CI-1. … act only according to that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law, So act that you use humanity, in your own person as well as in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end, never merely as a means, … every rational being must so act as if he were through his maxim always a lawmaking member in the universal kingdom of ends. Therefore we are responsible for our actions. Kant thinks not. For example, “whenever I am going to exercise I will do it for an above the average amount of time”. This is true universally for all people in all circumstances for anyone can, in principle, go through the same line of reasoning. For example, perhaps we are in a law court and the SS officer asks us under oath. username4247768, Started by: . Jill has a right to life, period; we do not say Jill has a right to life “if…” and then have to fill in the blanks. 38Recall the example of making a false promise to secure a loan. The choice between consequentialist and Kantian ethics is a difficult one, as there are many examples which are challenging to each sort of view. However, Kant’s theory does not back this up because, as far as we know, cats are not rational agents. The point about universalisation seems irrelevant. Consider an example. The application of Kantian Ethics in this way shows that it is a useful approach to decision-making, both in that it is practical, offering guidance that people can understand and accept, and in that it is likely to lead to more sustainable happiness than consequentialist ethics. 29Contrast this with Hypothetical Imperatives. Lying is about intentional deceit, so maybe in this example there is a way not to lie. The theory that humans construct knowledge by imposing universal concepts onto sensory experiences, concepts and ideals exist with a … You are treating yourself as a “beast” a “thing” an “object”, not as a human being with the gift of reason. What does Kant mean? He does not just want us to mindlessly apply generic rules whilst paying no attention to what is before us. (See also Chapter 10). My friend decided to go to this funeral in his tracksuit and trainers. Rules of etiquette seem to be Categorical Imperatives but are. This is precisely something that Kant’s theory can give us. Here is a final challenge to the Kantian perspective worth thinking about: According to the Kantian, what are really good or bad are not the consequences of our actions, but the actions themselves. It seems there are. serioushardo21. Here is why. They apply to people irrespective of how they feel about them. The flip side of this is that non-rational agents, such as non-human animals, do not have rights and we can, according to Kant, treat them as we like! Yet Kant starts by turning his eyes “inward” to thinking about ethical, Kant believes that in doing this people will come to recognise that certain actions are right and wrong irrespective of how we might feel and irrespective of any consequences. It is unclear why in attempting suicide you are treating yourself as a mere means to an end. Immanuel Kant, for example, who was a philosopher from Königsberg. Study Kantian Ethics using smart web & mobile flashcards created by top students, teachers, and professors. What role, if any, should intuitions have in the formation and the testing of moral theory? However, before doing this we need to get a sense of what Kant has in mind when he talks about acting out of respect for the moral law. Kant, Immanuel, Moral Law: The Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Translated and analysed by H.J. In this it seems that the very concept of a promise relies on trust, which lying would destroy. If anyone’s actions do not recognize someone else’s rationality then they have done something morally wrong. 4Kant believes that in doing this people will come to recognise that certain actions are right and wrong irrespective of how we might feel and irrespective of any consequences. Further, do we not have an obligation to fight evil? - This is the most important of the three and states that for a maxim to be part of the moral law it must be universalisable i.e. He has a profound and deep insight into the nature of morality and he raises some fundamental questions about what it is to be human. 14It seems there are. Imagine that you have hidden some Jewish people in your basement in Nazi Germany. Chance of getting into a good university due to bad GCSEs and UCAS doubt. We will leave the reader to see if this can be done and in particular, whether it can be done in a way consistent with the other aspects of his moral theory. Religion and ethics OCR A level. For example, he talks about humans being the property of God and hence our lives not being something we can choose to extinguish. But he did not. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997). If I use you as a means by asking you to take me to the airport I am also treating you as an end. What role do you think intuitions should have in assessing moral theories? For you might want people to help those in need in the future, namely, So we cannot will the maxim “whenever someone is in need do not help them” to become a universal moral law. 43You cannot know if you will be in need in the future and presumably you would want to be helped if you were in need. To make this point clearer, Kant asks us to consider someone who has no sympathy for the suffering of others and no inclination to help them. Because if you are rational then you must think that it is OK to universalise the maxim that we can treat others as objects, beast and thing. So Peter Rickman writes regarding these types of cases: … it should be plain that more than one imperative/moral principle is relevant to the situation. Any theory that is to have a hope of capturing our notion of rights needs to be able to respect the thought that a right is not something that disappears if circumstances change. We will look at the first two formulations. We have freely decided to treat ourselves as a means to an end. You have treated yourself as a mere means to an end. However, as with all the philosophical ideas we discuss in this book, Kant’s work is still very much alive and has defenders across the world. Kantian ethics are part of the history of philosophy and, thus, revolutions in terms of knowledge, morals, politics, and economics. Tutoring and Online Course for A level students, with both content and training in A grade writing skills. Certainly we should tell the truth; but do we not also have a duty to protect an innocent man from harm? In our example, why is it that we keep our promise despite the strong desire to gossip? Yet we seem to be able to generate thought experiments that show that this is a morally repugnant position. In fact, we might think that this is an advantage of his theory that has given us the supreme principle of morality and the general way of proceeding but has left it up to us to work out what to do in each situation. We must be careful though. So although this does not show that Kant is wrong, it does throw down a challenge to him. (Start typing, we will pick a forum for you), Taking a break or withdrawing from your course, University of Oxford 2021 Applicants Official thread! . Categorical and Hypothetical Imperatives 34 5. This is how Kant puts it: One sees at once a contradiction in a system of nature whose law would destroy life [suicide] by means of the very same feeling that acts so as to stimulate the furtherance of life [self-love], and hence there could be no existence as a system of nature. To do so is morally wrong. What might Kant’s theory tell us to do? Kant is not telling us to become emotionally barren robots! Kant’s moral theory is radically Egalitarian as his theory is blind to individual personal circumstances, race, gender and ethnicity. 76However, in Kant’s defence we might ask why we should use our intuitions as any form of test for a moral theory. P. Foot, ‘Morality as a System of Hypothetical Imperatives’. ecolier, Started by: We are, then, treating ourselves as a rational agent and not doing something morally wrong by committing suicide. “Clean your room!” is an imperative I give my daughter every Saturday. Match. The strength of Foot’s challenge is that she agrees that morality is a system of Categorical Imperatives but says that this need not be due to reason. We are, then, treating ourselves as a rational agent and not doing something morally wrong by committing suicide. Most commands are hypothetical. Intuitions are notoriously fickle and unreliable. We consider some of these below. But despite this: … he nevertheless tears himself from his deadly insensibility and performs the action without any inclination at all, but solely from duty then for the first time his action has genuine moral worth.5. Kant is not telling us to become emotionally barren robots. This means his general philosophical approach starts by asking what we can know, This is key to understanding his work but also makes his writing on ethics seem a bit odd. We are confronted with a conflict of values here. sumire06, Started by: Sophiebxx, Started by: However, to my mind at least, this reason, which was based on his desire, did not change the fact that he really ought not have worn a tracksuit. Despite it not being wrong to treat animals in this way, Kant. To respond to this challenge, the Kantian would have to put forward the argument that in the particular case of moral “oughts”, we have a good argument to ground the categorical nature in reason rather than institutional practices. » b) “Deontological ethics is inflexible’. Loading... Save for later. Ethics - A-Level Religious Studies (RS) section covering , Absolutism and Relativism, Kantian Ethics, Natural Law, Situation Ethics, Utilitarianism We do not think that if we reasoned correctly we would recognise that we ought not to wear tracksuits to funerals, or (to think of some other rules of etiquette) we ought not to reply to a letter written in the third person in the first person, or we ought not to put our feet on the dinner table during a meal etc. Is Kantian ethics a useful method of moral decision-making? The answer is that we are rational. 65Moving to the second formulation. Obviously not all actions are as significant as Gandhi’s! If everyone followed this maxim then we would all believe everyone else could make a false promise if it would benefit them to do so. Learn. If a command is categorical then people ought to follow it irrespective of how they feel about following it, irrespective of what consequences might follow, or who may or may not have told them to follow it. Remember he calls such people “objects” or “beasts” or “things”. University of Brighton Enquiries, Started by: If this were true then there would be no “contradiction”. With regard to attempting suicide your action is wrong because you have ignored your own rationality. Kant and Business Ethics . Acting for the Sake of Duty and Acting in Accordance with Duty 33 4. Our duty is to refrain from lying so does this mean we are morally required to tell the SS officer our secret? Here is a case where there must have been an overwhelming desire to fight back. 69There is a consensus between Kant scholars that, as it stands, Kant’s argument against suicide fails. 2. We act despite our desires to do otherwise. It does not add weight to the claim that it is a contradiction. Kant’s moral theory is radically. Kant’s answer is “the good will”. Consider my pet cat Spartan. Thinking that Kant’s Categorical Imperative can be summed up in the question: “how would you like it if everyone did that”? 50Importantly, CI-2 does not say that you either treat someone as a means or an end. Today, justice systems in democracies are fundamentally based on Kant’s writings. His sentences are full of technical language, are very long, and are incredibly dense. It has to be possible to will as a universal law and for this to be true it must be at least possible for it actually to come about. Vous pouvez suggérer à votre établissement et à la bibliothèque que vous avez l'habitude de fréquenter de souscrire un abonnement à OpenEdition Freemium.N'hésitez pas à lui indiquer nos coordonnées :contact@openedition.orgOpenEdition (Cléo)c/o École centrale de Marseille – Technopôle de Château-Gombert38 rue Frédéric Joliot-Curie13013 Marseille Cedex 20Vous pouvez également nous indiquer à l'aide du formulaire suivant les coordonnées de votre établissement ou de votre bibliothèque afin de nous permettre de leur fournir des informations au sujet d'OpenEdition et de ses offres d'abonnement. For him committing suicide is treating yourself as a mere means to some end — namely the end of avoiding pain and suffering etc. Have you submitted your UCAS application yet? However, Kant thinks that any acts like this, which are performed despite conflicting desires, are due to the good will. 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