Lecture 7 Flashcards
what do both kant and korsgaard (author) agree on
reason is the source of moral obligations
what do Kant and korsgaard disagree on
reason (our rational nature) is the object of moral obligations
what does Korsgaard say in response to kant’s “reason (our rational nature) is the object of moral obligations “
both our rational and animal natures are the object of moral obligations
what is Kant’s theory of action
an action always entails both an incentive and a principle
the instinctive and rational way to act
moral obligations follow from this rational way to act
since animals are not rational, they don’t have moral obligations
for Kant, an action always entails 2 things, what are they
incentive and principle
what is incentives
motivationally loaded; the dog would see the meat as desirable (representation of the meat as desirable)
what is principle
the desposition to act; the dog for example has a certain desposition to act. he is inclined to eat the meat when he finds it desirable. (desposition to eat the mean)
what is the Instinctive way to act
to just go for it (the meat, when he had the desposition to eat the meat he just goes for it.)
what is the rational way to act
human being for example may have the same components as the dog (desire and desposition to eat the meat) but the human would ask themselves if it is a good thing o eat the meat (the capacity to reflect on the grounds of your actions)
only those that have the ability to __________________ have the abiity to produce moral obligations
only those that have the ability to evaluate their actions have the abiity to produce moral obligations
to Kant: do we have a moral obligation only to humans? or to animals as well?
Kant says that moral obligation shave to be reciprocal in order for it to have meaning ; your obligation only has the value f the other has the same. I have an obligation not to kill you only if you have the same obligation not to kill me. If you want to kill me, then the social contract is gone and n moral obligations are to be followed/are there
what is Kant;s theory of value
when we pursue something, we confer value upon it
value does not exist independently of our choices; it is not out there in th work
this means we are a source of value
when we pursue something, we also take ourselves to matter. In other words, we choose ourselves as an end. This is what it means to be an end-in-itself
by the same token, we confer upon ourselves a specific kind of value: Intrinsic value
what does moral realism say
exactly the opposite of kant’s thory of value
It says that we percieve the value of things and then pursue it (basically it has value even before we pursue it)
kant basically says what about value
things only have value because we pursue them/care about them/desire them. Value is entirely dependent on human beings valuing them, the thing in itself does not have value until we make it have value.
to kant, we only have moral obligations to ends-in-themselves, to those beings with intrinsic worth or to rational beings; what does this mean
when we pursue things (education, relationship,s etc) because we care about ourselves. In a way, we are our own end, we are an end in ourselves. Notice what this means for value; in we are an end in ourselves we are both the source and object of value and this makes us intrinsicly valuable.
end in itself = intrinsically valuable