kantian ethics Flashcards
To understand Kants ethical views
What is a Catagorical Imperative
Something one should always do regardless of the situation. A catagorical imperative is like a universal law, as rational beings kant believed that we should always follow the catagorical imperative.
What are kants three arguements to support his view of the catagorical imperative
universability
treat human as ends in themselves
kingdom of ends
Describe kants universability principle
Universability principle states that we should only act in a certain way if we beleive it would be appropriate for everyone else to also act in this way. For example if you are in a nice garden and you are debating picking up a flower, think if everyone else did the same then the garden would no longer be beutiful, so i should not do that.
describe the concept of treating people as ends in themselves.
Another human should never be used to fullfill a purpose or goal (end) instead they should be viewed as end within themselves.
describe the concept kingdom of ends
Kant imagined a perfect kingdom filled with prefectly rational people. Kant beleived that we should act as if our actions were to be approved by members of this kingdom.
why is the universability principle effective
in its basic form the universabilty principle can be understood by anyone even a child making - showing that as a theory it is simple and effective.
what is a weakness of the universabilty principle
a weakness of the universability principle could be that there are alternate circumstances in which the theory does not apply. For example the circumstance of the axe murderer. This senario depicts an axe murder asking you the location of their next victim. To lie to the axe murderer would be to go against the universabilty principle as this would universalise the immoral action of telling a lie. Show that the universabilty principle is not effective.
what is a strength of kants categorical imperative in relation to reason and emotion
the categorical imperative cuts out emotion in favour of reason - Kantian morality is not swayed by human emotion
why might kants focus on reason as an oppose to emotion be a weakness for his arguement
