7.2.14: Summary

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Kant’s moral theory is extremely complicated and badly expressed. However, it is hugely influential and profound. As a system builder Kant’s work starts with rational reflection from which he attempts to develop a complete moral system.

He starts from the notion of duty. He shows that what allows us to act for the sake of duty is the good will, and that the good will is unconditionally good. If we want to act for the sake of duty we need to act out of respect for the moral law and this amounts to following the Categorical Imperative. Kant argues that in following the Categorical Imperative, agents will converge on what is morally permissible. Hence Kant can talk about absolute and objective moral truths.

COMMON STUDENT MISTAKES

Confusing acting in accordance with duty and acting for the sake of duty.
Thinking that Kant’s theory has no room for emotions.
Thinking that Kant’s Categorical Imperative can be summed up in the question: “how would you like it if everyone did that”?
Thinking that the Categorical Imperative is a form of Utilitarianism.
Thinking Kant believes you can never treat someone as a means to an end.

ISSUES TO CONSIDER

Think about your life. Do you think there are things you “ought to do”?
Do you think that there are things you ought to do irrespective of your desires and inclinations?
What are Categorical and Hypothetical Imperatives? Do you think that rules of etiquette are categorical or hypothetical?
How might Kant respond to the SS officer example?
Can you think of some examples where you might be treating someone solely as means-to-an-end?
Would capital punishment pass the CI-2 test?
How might CI-2 relate to prostitution? Do you think that Kant would say that it is morally permissible?
Why might Kant’s theory be well placed to respect people’s rights?
Do you think we have any moral obligations towards animals? What would Kant say?
What role do you think intuitions should have in assessing moral theories?

KEY TERMINOLOGY

A priori

Categorical Imperative

Deontological

Duty

Egalitarian

Good will

Hypothetical Imperative

Maxim

Rationalist

Rights

References

Cholbi, Michael J., ‘Kant and the Irrationality of Suicide’, History of Philosophy Quarterly, 17.2 (2000): 159–76.

Foot, Philippa, ‘Morality as a System of Hypothetical Imperatives’, The Philosophical Review, 81.3 (1972): 305–16, https://doi.org/10.2307/2184328

Kant, Immanuel, Moral Law: The Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Translated and analysed by H. J. Paton (Oxford: Routledge, 2013).

―, Lectures on Ethics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997).

Rickman, Peter, ‘Having Trouble with Kant?’, Philosophy Now, freely available at https://philosophynow.org/issues/86/Having_Trouble_With_Kant

Velleman, J. David, ‘A Right of Self-termination?’, Ethics, 109.3 (1999): 606–28, https://doi.org/10.1086/233924

―, Beyond Price: Essays on Birth and Death (Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 2015), https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0061; freely available at https://www.openbookpublishers.com/reader/349