Kantian ethics

Question 1

what was Kant influenced by?

Answer 1

the 13/14th century renaissance - there was a push agains the church and Galaleo spoke about how we were not the centre of the universe,’the critique of pure reason’

Question 2

what did Kant believe in?

Answer 2

• was a deist so believed that god couldn’t be on earth as we live in the phenomenal whilst God lives in the
• was deontological - duty based
• believes in god but sees in a completely different way to most christians as no actual way to interact with God

Question 3

what are hypothetical imperatives?

Answer 3

based on what you want than general morality (all about knowledge)
- if commands which change depending not the situation and what you want

Question 4

what are the positives of the hypothetical imperative?

Answer 4

• tell us how to act in order to achieve a specific goal
• makes Kantian ethics more situational - allows for different decisions to be made by different people

Question 5

what are the negatives of the hypothetical imperative?

Answer 5

• subjective as what some people think will lead to one outcome other will disagree with

Question 6

what are categorical imperatives?

Answer 6

commands you must follow regardless of your desires, doesn’t matter wether you want to be moral there are moral laws binding on all of us where you don’t need religion to determine what the law is you need reason

Question 7

what are the positives of categorical imperatives?

Answer 7

• can’t be held responsible if you follow (eg axe murder)
• easy to follow (should be)
• would create ‘perfect’ society if followed accurately
• universal and impartial – universal because all people, in virtue of being rational, would act in precisely the same way, and impartial because their actions are not guided by their own biases
• gives us rules that apply to everyone and command us to respect human life
• lies can kill eg when people lied about corona virus

Question 8

what are the negatives of categorical imperatives?

Answer 8

• the world isn’t full of people following them
• people with bad morals exist
• sometimes lying is good eg signa codes in ww1
• Kant seems confused about whether his ethics are deontological or teleological. The basic idea is deontological but there is a future goal of the kingdom of ends

Question 9

whats the universability principle?

Answer 9

act only according to that maximum which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law without contradiction (everyone must agree)

Question 10

pros of universalism?

Answer 10

• puts everyone as equal
• easy to follow
• stops prejudice or discrimination

Question 11

issues with universalism?

Answer 11

• very hard to actually universalise anything eg do not kill but in some instances such as euthanasia it seems like the most moral decision to make
• ignores cultural relavitism eg tribes with no human contact may not see killing as bad because they have a different interpretation of death (arrogant view to think our views are right)
• universalisable maxims are tricky when applied to moral dilemas

Question 12

what does Kant mean when he says one must never treat another human being as a means to some greater end?

Answer 12

that its immoral to use people to achieve some sort of purpose, we can use objects in this way but not people, ‘we’re not mere objects that exist to be used by others.We’re our own ends’
- this is significant as if you lie to someone you have taken away their autonomy to make a decision
- there are no exceptions in using people as means to ends which severely restricts our behaviour
- values persons, can use an object however we want but not a person, and ensures that every human being is significant
BUT
- this attacks minorities who may need to be treated differently (eg someone with a wheelchair)

Question 13

whats the kingdom of ends?

Answer 13

• a realm of beings defined by our unique rationality and autonomy - We can, and do, make plans for ourselves, adopt principles, and reshape who we are throughout our lives.
• for Kant this is a society we would reach if we all followed the catergorical imperatives

Question 14

what does Kant believe is the only intrinsically good thing?

Answer 14

goodwill
- for all other things there are qualifications (eg youde be courageous in front of your friends but not in front of someone you don’t know)
- Kant believes goodwill should be showed to everyone as it is purely good because of the intention and desire to do the right thing
- ‘nothing can be called good…without qualification, except a good will’
- uses the examples of courage and wealth being things that we change due to our emotions whilst goodwill doesn’t

Question 15

what does Kant think about duty?

Answer 15

-he says that the motive (or means), and not consequence (or end), of an action determines its moral value so its our duty to ensure we make the right decision
- argues duty is not self interest (instead its selfless) unlike inclinations which are selfish and change daily (eg sometimes inclined to donate to charity where as other youre not)
- believes duty uses reason (our brains/thinking instead of being impulsive)
- duty doesn’t care about consequences
- as conscious humans we have the ability to recognise moral duties

Question 16

positives of using duty (deontological)?

Answer 16

• emotions do change too much so can’t make just decisions with them
• we shouldn’t focus not the consequence, its arrgant to think we can predict the future outcome of a scenario
• ethical practice should be based on reason not subjective emotion
• duty is part of human experience

Question 17

negatives of using duty (deontological)?

Answer 17

• what is the difference between inclination and reason (both are our own thoughts) BUT Kant would argue that one uses emotions and one uses reason
• we use reason from past experiences to predict the future/the outcome of an act
• some humans are bad and don’t have good morals
• sometimes ‘bad morals’ are better eg lying during the war with the signs code
• people rarely act purely out of duty as they always have some expectation of what they’ll get in return
• some philosophers think putting duty above feeling is cold and inhuman- there is no place for love and personal relations in Kant’s theory

Question 18

what are Kant’s views on how we reason accurately?

Answer 18

believes in the power of human beings being able to reason accurately and to reach answers without external authorities
- but without parents we wouldn’t have much reasoning
- in history when people haven’t used reasoning eg Stalin bad things have happened
- Aristotle stressed the importance of both the rational and irrational aspects of the soul so do both aspects needs to be equally embraced not repressed

Question 19

arguments against Kant using reasoning?

Answer 19

• limits to human reason eg disability
• cultural relavtisim (whats right in Pakistan isn’t here)
• unable to experience the noumena and issues such as Gods existence are beyond our ability to prove
• thinkers such as Barth would argue there are limits to reason and we requirer gods revelation in order to gain relevancy to gain truth (moss 10 commandments) - how could Kant say its unreasonable to follow the ten comandements

Question 20

what are the three posulates?

Answer 20

1. that we have free will
   - if we are not genuinely free to do either the good or the evil things then there can be no moral responsibility
2. that there is an afterlife - we are immortal
   - kant argues that morality requires the summon bonus to be achieved,where the perfect virtue is rewarded by perfect happiness - this does not happen in life but to say it ought to be achieved must mean that it can be
3. that god exists : in order that the summun bonus actually occurs and goodness is rewarded by happiness, there must be a god who ensures the justice of the universe,god is just as he will judge people dependent on how much he gave them

Question 21

what are the strengths of the three postulates?

Answer 21

• the principle of the universal laws seem to provide a useful principle in making moral decisions (similar to rule of religion,’ treat others as you wish to be treated’)
  — doesn’t use emotions
• appeal to concept of reason and duty makes it impartial and less prone to personal bias
• represents the intrinsic values of a person, enabling a concept of rights to be used (favourable concept to utilitarian where persons are instrumentally valuable and the idea of rights is ‘nonsense on stilts’)

Question 22

what are the weaknesses of the three postulates?

Answer 22

• intuitively it feels like outcome does matter, we would feel guilty if our honesty led to a death which suggests its wrong to ignore outcome
• too abstract and theoretical; only offer solutions based on a hypothetical kingdom of ends yet it cannot cope with a real world where people act in an immoral way and we have to respond
• doesn’t help when there are 2 conflicting duties
• better at showing things we ought to not do than showing what we should, there are a number of random maxims

Question 23

✅ duty as an an idea is better than depending on our inclinations, our inclinations are led by emotions which change we are also less prone to personal bias if duty is our key principle?

Answer 23

✅universalism ➡️ deontological
only fair to not have any bias
good will doest deviate
❌word duty can be distorted eg soldiers duty is to kill people ,following duty blindly

Question 24

✅Kant ethics are rational,Kant gives human beings the responsibility for making decisions and he believes that humanity’s ability to reason and work things out will enable us to reach the right answers?

Answer 24

✅autonomous beings, we have ability
❌rationality is subjective

Question 25

✅Kant is right that consequences can’t be predicted, we cannot be held responsible for things that are not within our control (cannot predict the future)

Answer 25

✅not omnipotent beings
bringing pleasure isn’t always the right thing to do

Question 26

✅Kant principle of universal law is a useful rule, similar to religious faiths

Answer 26

✅don’t use people
❌scripture does discriminate eg the Mitzvahs

Question 27

✅Kants ethics value persons, respecting their rationality ensures that every human being is significant

Answer 27

✅can use objective however you want but not a person
get to a consensus of an end
❌subjective eg Hitler thought he was doing the best for the most

Question 28

✅modern views of justice and rights owe much to Kantian ethics,particularly the focus on person

Answer 28

✅married woman’s property act 1870 (when a woman married a man she ceased to exist as a separate legal being - no longer existed)

Question 29

✅Kants ethics can be seen as secular, the principle can be applied by people of all faiths and people of no faith

Answer 29

✅not religious (deist)
ethics help as its still applicable to atheists – better than bible which doesn’t have good will

Question 30

❌inflexibility to the situation

Answer 30

✅sometimes you need to lie but Kant says we should NEVER lie

Question 31

❌the outcome of our action is often foreseeable and predictable, to choose something that obeys a moral rule but will almost certainly lead to increased misery of suffering seems like the wrong decision

Answer 31

✅action is often foreseeable and predictable (eg we can predict consequences, hypothetical imperative follows teleological eg if you want to get fit go to the gym)

Question 32

❌no clear guidance on what to do when duties clash, we can universalise telling the truth and trying to save a life but in axe murderer these categorical imperatives clash - we cannot do both and Kant gives no way of deciding between conflicting duties

Answer 32

✅unclear/lack of guidance (situational)
white lies help to keep peace (truth hurts)
❌many theories cannot solve every situation

Question 33

❌ignores reality (focuses on kingdom of ends) as life is complicated and in the real world Kants solutions and ideas can often appear impractical

Answer 33

✅Kant ideas work if we lived in the kingdom but we don’t making them less useful

Question 34

❌the principle of law does not show our moral duties, non moral maxims can be universalised but it is not clear that this is a real moral duty and just because I cannot universalise something doesn’t mean it is immoral

Answer 34

✅one rule cannot be applied to everyone and seen as fare (eg disabled people may need positive discrimination)
moral decision shouldn’t be dictated by wether everyone can follow them
just because we have evolved to do something doesn’t mean we need to – WHAT WE SEE IN NATURE IS NOT ALWAYS HOW WE SHOULD ACT MORALLY
❌don’t we all have a moral sense of what is right/wrong