Transcript Kant`s Moral Theory

Standard Form
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State your position
1st Premise (Fact 1: State fact and source)
2nd Premise (Fact 2: State fact and source)
3rd Premise (Fact 3: State fact and source)
4th Premise (Fact 4: State fact and source)
Counter Argument
Response to Counter Argument
Conclusion
Evaluating Moral Arguments
Structure of a Moral Argument about
Actions
(1) Action A has feature F.
(2) It is morally good/bad to do actions
that have feature F.
Therefore,
(3) You should/should not do A.
Consequentialist Moral
Argument Form
(1) Some action causes a particular effect
(a consequence)
(2) Causing this particular effect is right or
wrong
Therefore
(3) People should / should not do the
action in question
Deontological Moral Arguments
(1) Action A has intrinsic feature F.
(2) It is morally good/bad to do actions with
intrinsic feature F.
Therefore,
(3) H should/should not do A.
Kant’s Moral Theory
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Immanuel Kant
1724-1804
German
Wrote on many subjects
Critique of Pure Reason
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Requirements for Morality
Free Will
Rationality
Moral Autonomy
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Happiness?
We are not here to be Happy
But
To be Worthy of Happiness
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If happiness were the goal of human
life
Then we would be controlled by our
instincts not reason
The more you know the more pain and
suffering you experience
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Good Will
Only thing in the world that cannot be
perverted
Although we might not always be able
to do the right thing
We must always want to do the right
thing
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Categorical Imperative
Absolute Command
of
Moral reason
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Deontological Ethics
Morality based upon duty
It is our duty to follow the
Categorical Imperative
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Hypothetical Imperative
► Possible
Command
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Moral Worth of an Action
Based Upon Our
Intentions
Not
The Consequences
of the Action
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Why?
1. Because doing what is right has
intrinsic value
2. Since we are not God, we cannot
guarantee that what we intent to
happen will actually happen
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Therefore
We are only responsible for what we
have complete control over
OUR INTENTIONS
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Wallet Example
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st
1
Formulation
Act only on the maxim that you could
will to be a universal law of nature
without contradiction
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What is a Maxim?
An Intention
Or
Reason
for doing something
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What is a Universal Law of
Nature?
Something that must happen whether or
not we want it to
Example:
Gravity
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Without Contradiction?
Every time we are going to act
We are to think about why we want to
take that action
Then imagine how we might write out a
statement expressing our reasons for
action
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If the action we are thinking about
taking is morally wrong
Then we will see a contradiction in the
sentence stating our intentions
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Example
We want to borrow money from a bank
But we have no intention of paying the
money back to the bank
What would a statement look like
expressing this intention?
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It is morally acceptable
to sign a
promissory note
to pay back the money
when I have
no intention of keeping my promise
to pay the money back
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Contradiction?
I make a promise
with no intention
of keeping the promise
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nd
2
Formulation
Always treat people as
ends in themselves
never as means to an end
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Don’t use people
Why?
Because human beings have intrinsic
value
Rationality
Free Will
Moral Autonomy
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We use objects
not people
Pornography?
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Conscience?
► We
might think of the Categorical
Imperative as our conscience
► The
sense of what is right or wrong in
our behavior and motives
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Copernican Revolution
Synthetic A Priori Knowledge
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“Although all knowledge begins with
experience, it by no means follows
that all knowledge arises out of
experience”
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Transcendental Structure of
Mind
Our minds have a structure that we
impose upon all the information we
receive thru experience
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Space
Time
Causality
Moral Law
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Synthetic A Priori Knowledge
We know a priori that all our
experiences will include
Space
Time
Causality
Moral Law
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Conscience?
► We
might think of the Categorical
Imperative as our conscience
► The
sense of what is right or wrong in
our behavior and motives
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