Transcript Morality and Practical Reason: Kant

Chapter 7: Ethics
Morality and Practical Reason:
Kant
Introducing Philosophy, 10th edition
Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen Higgins, and
Clancy Martin
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
• German philosopher, probably the greatest
philosopher since Plato and Aristotle
• Lived his entire life in a small town in East
Prussia (Konigsburg); was a professor at the
university there for more than thirty years
• Never married; neighbors said that his habits
were so regular that they could set their
watches by him (a later German poet said, “It
is hard to write about Kant’s life, for he had
no life”)
• Yet, from a safe distance, Kant was one of the
most persistent defenders of the French
Revolution and, in philosophy, created no
less a revolution himself
• His philosophical system, embodied in three
huge volumes called Critique of Pure Reason
(1781), Critique of Practical Reason (1788),
and Critique of Judgment (1790), changed
the thinking of philosophers as much as the
revolution changed France
• His central thesis is the defense of what he
calls synthetic a priori judgments (and their
moral and religious equivalents) by showing
their necessity for all human experience
• In this way, he escapes from Hume’s
skepticism and avoids the dead-end
intuitionism of his rational predecessors
Kant’s Ethics: The Basics
• Morality must be based solely on reason. Its
central concept is the concept of duty (dein),
and so morality is a matter of deontology
• Morality must be autonomous, a function of
individual reason, such that every rational
person is capable of finding out what is right
and what is wrong for himself or herself
• All personal feelings, desires, impulses, and
emotions are inclinations. Morality is
independent of inclination
The Good Will
• Kant begins by saying that what is ultimately
good is a good will. And a good will, in turn, is
the will that exercises pure practical reason
• What we will, that is, what we try to do, is wholly
within our control. And reason serves the
purpose of instructing our will in our duty. “The
notion of duty includes that of a good will”
• A good will subjects itself to rational principles.
Those rational principles are moral laws, and it
is action in accordance with such laws that alone
makes a person good
The Categorical Imperative(s)
• The general formulation of Kant’s notion of
duty is the categorical imperative
• Categorical imperatives demand that one
simply “do this” or “don’t do this,” whatever
the circumstances
• The word that distinguishes moral
commands in general is the word ought, and
categorical imperatives tell us what we ought
to do, independent of circumstances or goals
There is therefore but one categorical
imperative, namely, this: Act only on that
maxim whereby you can at the same time will
that it should become a universal law
• Moral or categorical imperatives provide
universal laws that tell us what to do in every
circumstance. With hypothetical imperatives,
on the other hand, what is commanded
depends upon particular circumstances
• A maxim, according to Kant, is a “subjective
principle of action,” or what we would call an
intention. It is distinguished from an
“objective principle,” that is, a universal law
of reason
• The categorical imperative is an a priori
principle:
– Necessary
– Independent of particular circumstances
– True for all rational beings
Objections to
Kant’s Conception of Morality
• It may be too strict: the idea that morality
and duty have nothing to do with our
personal desires or inclinations seems to
make the moral life undesirable
• Kant’s emphasis on the categorical
imperative systematically rules out all
reference to particular situations and
circumstances, but the right thing to do is
often determined by the particular context
or situation
• Kant gives us no adequate way of choosing
between moral imperatives that conflict. The
rule that tells us “don't lie!” is categorical; so
is the rule that tells us “keep your promises!”
• Suppose that I promise not to tell anyone
where you will be this weekend. Then some
people wishing to kill you try to force me to
tell. Either I break the promise, or I lie. Kant
gives us no solution to this moral conflict