Moral philosophy - Kantian ethics

Question 1

What are deontological ethics

Answer 1

the moral theory that an action is ‘right’ based on how well it meets an obligation or duty.

Question 2

What are teleological ethics

Answer 2

the moral theory that an action is ‘right’ based on its end or consequences.

Question 3

What are Kantian ethics

Answer 3

Kantian ethics created by Immanuel Kant are a set of universal moral principles that apply to all human beings, regardless of context or situation.

Question 4

Immanuel Kant

Answer 4

From the enlightenment period in which human reason and natural science began to supersede religious authority. 1724-1804.

Question 5

Kantian ethics and consequences

Answer 5

Kant’s moral theory is deontological, he is adamant that morality cannot be based on consequences as these are always beyond our control, morality can only be applied to actions we have control over.

Question 6

Free will in Kantian ethics

Answer 6

Free will is crucial to Kant’s philosophy and can be affected but not determined by outside influence, it is only by preforming a free action that a person can be worthy of moral praise. For Kant, an individual is considered free if his own reason generated the principle from which the action is preformed.

Question 7

What is hypothetical and categorical imperative

Answer 7

Hypothetical imperative: a command that is dependent on the fulfilling of of a certain desire or end, for example ‘if you want X, you ought to do Y’.

Categorical imperative: a command that applies unconditionally or applies only because we have rational wills, for example ‘you ought to do Y’.

For Kant, morality is understood as a command or imperative, for Kant moral duties must be of the nature of CI, the ‘good will’ operates on the basis of these CIs as subjective moral principles known as maxims. Moral worth can only come from CIs.

In accordance with duty vs out of duty.

Question 8

What are the three categorical imperatives in Kantian ethics

Answer 8

1. Act in accordance with a maxim that can be willed as a universal law.
2. Act in such a way that humans are always treated as ends-in-themsleves.
3. Act as if you were a legislator in the kingdom of ends.

Question 9

What is the ‘good will’ in Kantian ethics

Answer 9

The ‘good will’ is something within us that wants us to act for the sake of duty, the autonomous, rational will to pursue duty or obligation not out of religion or emotion.

The good will, according to Kant, is the only thing that is good in and of itself. Regardless of ends, disentangled from subjective wants and desires, the good will is its own end.

The will is what drives our actions and grounds the intention of our act. It is good when it acts from duty. To clarify, Kant thinks the good will is the only thing that is intrinsically valuable.

What drives our actions and grounds the intention of our act.

Someone with a good will is someone who does things for the right reason, the will is a motivator/driving force.

Represents the only ‘pure’ good in the world and believes it is the source of all moral worth. No end can be thought of as morally good in itself, only if accompanied by or resulting from good will.

Question 10

Strengths of deontology

Answer 10

Tells you what is wrong and gives a clear prescription it also offers helpful moral direction and becomes absolute as they airerules which apply universally and are not culturally relative which means it avoids relativism.

Question 11

Criticisms of deontology

Answer 11

• Too rigid: does not appreciate how certain situations may affect what the right thing to do is, too absolute in its maxims. Example: Challenge of the axe murderer.
• Conflict of duties: Jean-Paul Sartre gave the example of someone having both the duty to fight for his country and the duty to care for his sick mother at home. A problem is how you weight different duties and if based on the outcome it is essentially consequentialism and if it is on emotions then the action cannot have any moral worth.

Question 12

The categorical imperative

Answer 12

• ## Kant argues that the categorical imperative is something we have a duty to follow and enables us to work out how we should act.

Question 13

The Drowning Man example

Answer 13

If you were to save a drowning man for reward or praise or any other desire then the act does not have any moral worth. Although saving the man is the right thing to do as it is in accordance with duty, the action would only have moral worth if you did it because you knew it was the right thing to do / were acting out of duty.

Question 14

Kantian ethics criticism: Is good will always good?

Answer 14

• Can seem circular to say good will is good.
• It is not obvious that good will is always good: Billy is well-meaning and tries to help everyone but is clumsy and keeps hurting people and breaking things, people may think Billy’s good will is not good.

Question 15

Kant believed humans are imperfectly rational

Answer 15

• He believed that humans are driven by desires and instincts but unlike animals also have reason, which is what he describes as ‘imperfectly rational’. Kant thinks it is reason which reveals moral laws that we have a duty to follow, it is the rational part of us that reveals how we should behave morally.
• Acting from desires is to act out of self-interest which is a subjective motive, Kant believed moral laws are objective and universal and apply to everyone despite differences in desires.
• If we were perfectly rational we would always do the moral right thing. There is a tension between desire and reason which creates duty.
• Kant believed it is our ability to reason & follow moral laws that gives us autonomy as other animals always follow their instincts. Morality is only possible because we have free will.

Question 16

Acting in accordance with duty vs Acting out of duty

Answer 16

• Doing the right thing but out of desire is AAD, tis has no moral worth.
• Doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do is AOD, this has moral worth.

Question 17

Kant’s good shopkeeper example

Answer 17

A good shopkeeper doesn’t rip customers off because he wants a good reputation, his acts have no moral worth because he is acting out of desire.

Question 18

Example of two fathers

Answer 18

The condition of acting out of duty can be seen as counter intuitive using this example:
- Father A helps develop his sons talents because he loves him, wants his son to do well and enjoys spending time with him.
- Father B also helps to develop his sons talents but does not love him and does not like spending time with him but he acts from a sense of duty.
Kant would say that Father B is more morally worthy, but this goes against our intuition. This makes it seem like it would be easier to act morally if you were a bad person. However when interest and duty coincide , the motive of duty is less clear to see, as long as you are motivated by duty, the act is a good act.
Philippa Foot argues that a sense of duty alone does not give us enough reason to act, she claims that people like Father A are motivated by moral ends which are not self-interested and this gives their acts moral worth.

Question 19

Duty

Answer 19

Kant believes that ‘Duty is the necessity of acting out of reverence for the law’. The only rules which will work for all are those drawn from the view of a rational agent.

Question 20

Universal moral laws

Answer 20

• If Kant gave a list of rules it would go against the idea of autonomy, instead he gives a general principle which can be used to find moral laws. It is only by using reason to work out / find moral laws and by following our own rules that we have autonomy.
• Kant argues that moral laws should have similar qualities to scientific laws, in that they should be objective and universal as well as in the form of a rule outlining how you should act in certain circumstances which you can then apply.
• When considering potential moral rules (maxims) some cannot be rationally universalised, meaning it is not fit to be a rule and should not be followed, e.g; ‘I will make promises I cannot keep isn’t a good moral rule as if it was universalist there would be no institutions of promises.

Question 21

Hypothetical and categorical imperatives

Answer 21

• Kant believed morality is experienced as an imperative, it tells you what you ought to do.
• Hypothetical imperatives: ‘If you want X, you should do Y’, these are not universal and are not moral imperatives.
• Categorical imperatives: ‘You ought to do Y’, not dependant on conditions or desires, unconditional and absolute, they tell us we have a certain obligation regardless of the consequences which is what is meant by saying they are unconditional or categorical.

Question 22

The categorical imperative

Answer 22

• Only based on the idea of reason and rationality.
• ‘Act only in accordance to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law without contradiction.’ This can be used to work out how to act morally.