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
• 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
• Imperatives 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 • “If you are hungry,

Medical school, study then go eat
Biology in college. If something. If you
you don't want to go to aren't hungry, then
Medical school, this
you are free to ignore
command doesn't apply
to you”.
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.
 “The obligation to do our duty is unconditional. That is, we
must do it for the sake of duty, because it is the right thing to
do, not because it will profit us psychologically, or
economically, not because if we don’t do it and get caught
we’ll be punished. The categorical imperative was Kant’s name
for this inbred, self-imposed restraint, for the command of
conscience within that tells us that the only true moral act is
done from a pure sense of duty.”
_Admiral James Stockdale
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
 “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