Higher Kant

Question 1

Normative

Answer 1

A normative ethical theory is one that tries to tell you how to act by explaining how you work out which actions are right and wrong.

Question 2

Deontological

Answer 2

A type of normative ethical theory that claims that certain sorts of actions are always right or wrong. We have a duty to perform or to refrain from them.

Question 3

Sovereignty of reason:

Answer 3

For Kant, reason is what sets us apart from other sentient beings. It allows us to act selflessly by adopting an objective perspective.
Reason:
makes us moral agents able to work out, and so capable of doing, right or wrong.
makes us morally considerable. We should not be used as means.
is possessed by all of us and so, in that sense, makes us equal.

Question 4

The moral law:

Answer 4

Kant thinks we have an innate idea of, or sense of, obligation to others. We notice it when we are ‘pulled’ to act in a way other than that which our desires would ‘pull’ us. This purely rational impartiality is the moral law. Because reason is universal, the moral law is objective (applies to everyone equally).

Question 5

The good will:

Answer 5

The good will is the capacity to form good intentions to follow your rational duty as prescribed by Kant’s categorical imperative. It is doing the right action for the right reason (that is, because it is right). Kant believed that a ‘good will’ is the only source of moral value.

Question 6

Duty

Answer 6

For Kant, an action is only good if it is done out of duty to the moral law. This is different to other sorts of duty and involves carefully reasoning and acting accordingly.

Question 7

Inclination

Answer 7

Inclination is the word Kant uses for tendencies and dispositions that he says cannot be moral motivations of action due to their being non-rational. Acts done from inclination cannot be morally praiseworthy as they are not, therefore, done with a good will. One may do the right act without it being praiseworthy. For example I might give money to the homeless person because it makes me feel good rather than because I know it is the right thing to do.

Question 8

Categorical Imperative:Treat as an ‘end’:

Answer 8

Kant’s key idea in thinking about right and wrong, and is an attempt to describe the unconditional moral obligation we have to ourselves and other rational beings. He explains it in a number of ways or ‘formulations’.

Question 9

‘Universalising’ formulation:

Answer 9

“Act as though the maxim of your action were to become, through your will, a universal law of nature.” (G 4:421)

Question 10

‘Humanity’ formulation:

Answer 10

“Act in such a way as to treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of anyone else, always as an end and never merely as a means.” (G 4:430)

Question 11

Treat merely as a ‘means’:

Answer 11

By this Kant means using someone to get what you want. The ‘merely’ is important as it makes clear that Kant is not prohibiting treating someone as a ‘means’ and an ‘end’ at the same time (the taxi example).

Question 12

Treat as an ‘end’:

Answer 12

For Kant, rational beings are ‘ends in themselves’. Humans, by their nature, are worthy of respect (my recognising others as equal, with equally valuable goals). This is ‘the limiting condition on the freedom of man’.

Question 13

Universalise:

Answer 13

When asked to universalise an action we ask ourselves whether everyone could do this action, all the time.

Question 14

Maxim:

Answer 14

Kant uses this word to refer to the general rule or principle underlying an action. For Kant rational decision making is choosing which maxims to follow in a given situation.

Question 15

Categorical:

Answer 15

Maxims are categorical if they require to be followed by everyone in every situation. For example ‘don’t lie’.

Question 16

Hypothetical

Answer 16

Maxims are hypothetical if they depend on the situation, one’s motivations or they make an exception of the actor. For example, ‘if you want people to like you don’t always tell them the truth.’ These cannot be universalised and so cannot be moral maxims.

Question 17

Contradiction in conception:

Answer 17

When we universalise some actions we discover it is “impossible for them to be a natural law” (for everyone to act this way). Kant’s example is promise breaking. Breaking a promise in a world where everyone breaks promises would be impossible as no one would believe (‘trust’) the promise, which is logically required for breaking it.

Question 18

Contradiction of the will:

Answer 18

There are some actions that we can universalise in the way above but we would not be able to ‘will’ (want) that to be how people treat each other in the world. Kant talks about not helping poor people. Though it would be non-contradictory for people to all act this way, Kant notes that willing it, would be willing that others would not be caring towards us.

In the text, Kant notices that my realising my goals depends on others developing their talents. This means I can’t choose not to develop my talents (even though this does not lead to a contradiction in conception). This duty seems to be a duty to help humanity reach their goals.

Question 19

Perfect duty:

Answer 19

Perfect duties are duties that apply all the time, for example the duty not to kill or lie. We have a perfect duty not to follow maxims that contain a contradiction in conception.

Question 20

Imperfect duty:

Answer 20

Imperfect duties are things that we have a broader (Kant says ‘meritorious’) duty not to do. For example allow our talents to go undeveloped, or refrain from helping the poor.

Question 21

Shopkeeper example:

Answer 21

Kant’s example to point to the moral importance of ‘the good will’. It is designed to isolate the good will by making the consequences the same and expecting us to see a difference in the moral standing of the two shopkeepers.

Question 22

The ‘axe-murderer at the door’

Answer 22

An attempted criticism of Kant’s ethics by Benjamin Constant in C18. The claim is that Kant’s ethics would require an individual to tell the truth if a crazed murderer asked the whereabouts of their friend.

Question 23

Intrinsic

Answer 23

A moral theory is described as locating moral value intrinsically if the rightness (or wrongness) of an action is thought to be situated in the action itself. Kant’s theory understands the moral value of an action to be intrinsic.

Question 24

Extrinsic

Answer 24

A moral theory is described as locating moral value extrinsically if the rightness (or wrongness) of an action is thought to be situated beyond the action itself in some way. For example, utilitarianism claims the moral goodness resides in the happiness an action creates. Utilitarianism is, therefore, an extrinsic theory.