RS (Kant) Flashcards
Kant’s argmuent is..?
deontoligcal- completley relies on motive which is goodwill and using our moral law within [syndersis] but differnt to Aquinas + NL in that kants objective moral law is prescriptive it’s what we SHOULD do rather what we feel
absolutist- duty has to be absolutist- it is our duty to fpllow the objective moral law/God’s will
Kant aimed to postulate that..?
God existed because good actions are usually rewarded but they somtimes lead to unhapines int he emoirical worlkd so if you accept humans have to be able to reach their end/pripsoe>postulated a life after death>postulated God’s logical necessity to provde th eocnnection
Kant’s argument could be called telogical due to the ..?
summum bonum
Kant said we should only do actions out of goodwill (moral law within us)..?
‘Godlinesss cannot be surragote for virtue’
Other feaures of human nature can be depndant on society
goodwill is intrinsic- its value is indepndant of external relations
The only way for the objective moral law to be able to guide evryone to the right actions is for it to be..?
universal
People consciously obey the..?
objective moral law determined by reaosn, but peple ahve other desires that ocntradict reaosn
we experiance reason as an imperitive/command either hypotheticla or cateogical
Why does Knat not consider the hypothetical imperitive to be useful?
‘If i do this..the this will happen’
dependant on outcome it invaldiates the motive which is rleid on to find the objective moral law
The cateogicla impertiive?
‘you should do this’- its prescriptive
universability- applies to all cultures throughout time
treating people as a means to an end- unique value on human life/agrees with the Golden Rule- deriving duties that benefit all of humanity
kingdom of ends- combing autonomy (moral freedom) and universability to create a world in which peoplesubjets himslef and everbodyelse to these moral laws
-distinguihes between heteronmous will which the rules have been legislated externally s are subject ot the hypotheical imperitive
autonomous will- self-lieglsted- obejective moral law thye imose on themsleves and others
Why must the cateogical imperotive be a prioir?
because the objectiv emoral law is aboslite is can;t be subject to relativism
a prioir- intrinsic belief from birht- buit it can’t be anayltic ‘true by defintion’ since the cocept can’t be held in any rational position
Scientista claim you need empirical evidance but Kant said you can’t prove lying is wrong by observing a lie
but you can use reason to work out if people commincate meaningfully then lying must eb wrong
Strengths of Kant’s arguemnt?
absolutoism- no human prefernce
stops people from acting out of self-interest- ethical egosim)
rational- isn’t clouded by emotions in judgement
cateogicla imperiotive is easy to follow
sense of authority- unbroken rules
Holds human diginity very highly
Weaknesses of Kant’s argument?
Absolutism is inflexible- results in a ‘conflcit of duties’
difficulty in forming maxims- cultral relativism
unrealsitic- lack of emotion
unforgiving- retriution against bad acts
cateogical imeritive- isn’t applicable in real-life situations
didn’t solve comflciting of duties problems
MacIntyre -said you could universilsie akmost any maxim (include exceptions in the maxim) whereas Kordagard said it was almsot impossibel to uiniverilsie any maxim to do with like abortion, euthanasia
W.D Ross?
7 prima facie duties- that most improtant
‘unless strigner moral considerations arise, one ought to keep a promsie made’
genral- exceptions, theya re guideline that lead us to our actual duty
Harm-prevention, Fidelity (duty not to break a promise)
conflciting duties , like savig someone’s life and breaking a promise (fidelty and ahrm-rpevention) it is right to help someone even if it means lying (reltivist)
Harm prevention>Fideltity>Benefieicne (to help others)
