Transcript Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals

Grounding for
the
Metaphysics of
Morals
Immanuel Kant
Enriquez | Lee | Lim | Montano |
Rombaoa
Who is
Immanuel Kant?
Immanuel Kant was born in Königsberg, East
Prussia in 1724.Immanuel Kant was born in
Königsberg, East Prussia in 1724.
He synthesized early modern rationalism and
empiricism
His other works include ‘The Critique of
Practical Reason’, ‘Anthropology from a
Pragmatic Point of View and Religion within the
Boundaries of Mere Reason’ and ‘Groundwork’.
Introduction
● Start of the conflict
○
Duty from practical reason means concept of
experience
○ Base on experience, we cannot cite a single act
from pure duty which has moral worth
○ Thus, some philosophers refined this human act
as self-love
○ However the big question is whether this self-love
is right under the concept of morality
○ We cannot answer the question by frailty of
human nature because of Reason which
legislates human nature but inclined to one’s own
interest
Body
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One is by no means to infer that we have
treated duty as a concept of experience
Duty is prior to all experience because it
comes a priori through reason
Moral system should be free of theology,
anthropology, physics etc - but it is still
important
One thinks only of reason, not a mixture of
reason and incentive
Proof towards a Metaphysics of
Morals
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Laws govern how things in nature work
and only the rational being can follow the
“representation” of those laws
A “command” is the presentation of an
objective principle, and the formula of that
is an imperative.
Imperative - objective, pleasant subjective
Skill is analytic in that one knows the
consequences of one’s actions, as there is
only one consequence to a particular
Imperatives
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The objective law gives no other option
Hypothetical imperative act according to
necessity and will to a certain result
Categorical imperative represents
accordance of the subjective maxim with
objective law
“Act only in accordance with that maxim
through which you can at the same time
will that it become a universal law”
Examples to test first categorical
imperative
1. Man depressed while still in possession of
his reason
2. Man who cannot pay for an item and yet
wonders if he could borrow money and not
pay it back
3. Man with amazing talent who prefers to
indulge and let his talent rust
4. Man who is fortunate but does not wish to
to help others in hardship
From the examples, Kant says..
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This could be a natural law, but the will
could conflict
Understanding maxims from the point of
view of reason means that one can avoid
bias of always thinking himself the
exception
Duty must be grounded in the categorical
imperative
Law is universally valid for all rational
beings regardless of their particular nature
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Is it necessary for all rational beings to
always act in accordance with universal
law and maxims?
Human being exists only as an end and it
is relative and thus subjective
Rational nature exists as an end in itself;
“representing his own existence”
From the examples...
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If man commits suicide it would mean that
he preserves what is left of his happiness
If man man lies to get money, he uses the
other man as means for money
If man does not use his talent, he does not
promote the harmonization of a duty and
mankind
If man does not help, it means that taking
a human subject as an end in itself
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“The idea of the will of every rational being
as a will giving universal law”
The will is subject to the law in the double
sense that it is also its author
Duty emerges for all those besides the
supreme hear as a result of the relation of
rational beings to one another
Conclusion
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Dignity has no cost or replacement; it has
inner worth which can’t be exchanged
Price is something that can be replaced
Morality is when humans are treated as
ends; the only condition for dignity
All maxim have a form, a matter, and a
complete determination
o
“act in accordance with that maxim which can at
the same time make itself a universal law”
Conclusion
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Good will = free of all evil
Actions which coincide with the autonomy
of the will are permissible; those do not
are impermissible
Objective necessity without recourse to
holy justification is called obligation
Morality is not imaginary because both the
autonomy of the will and the categorical
imperative are true and necessary a priori
REFERENCES
http://www.egs.edu/library/immanuel-kant/
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-moral/
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant/htt
p://www.educa.madrid.org/web/ies.laserna.fuenlabrad
a/filosofia/proyecto/kant/kant1.jpg
http://www.educa.madrid.org/web/ies.laserna.fuenlabr
ada/filosofia/proyecto/kant/kant1.jpg
Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals.
Thank you.