Kant's categorical imperative

• “We cannot know the world as it is in itself, only as it appears to us”- Kant 
• "Unscramble the mind and the rest will fall into place”- Kant 
• Good will is the only thing that can be regarded as good without qualification
• Kant read and was influenced by Hume
• Hume's "You cannot get an 'is' to an 'ought'" influenced Kant's "Ought implies can"
• "The autonomy of the will is the sole principle of all moral laws”- Kant critique of Practical Reason, Book 1 
• Kant’s aim was to: “To seek out and establish the supreme principle of morality” 
• Kant argued that very few things are moral obligations as moral obligations have to have universalised maxim
• Universal maxim- must be able to be done by everyone in every circumstance, every time
• People get to make their own rules using the categorical imperative, which is a rational principle
• The main advantage of Kant's approach is that once principles are established, they can be universally applied
• Disadvantages of Kant's approach:

  • Very few things can be applied universally
  • The message can be confusing
• Our duty is what we 'ought' to do
• Kant's ethics is not 'absolutely' deontological
• Kant does not ignore the consequences of our actions
• Deontology- the morality of an action should be based on whether the action itself is right or wrong
• The consequences have to be worked through before you can tell whether the principle you want to act on conforms to the Categorical Imperative 
• Categorical imperative formulations

  1. Universalisability
  2. The Practical Imperative
  3. The Kingdom of Ends
• Universalisability

  • Only act in ways you would be happy with everyone else acting
  • If you decide to lie, you should be okay with everyone else lying
• The practical imperative

  • Act in such a way so that you never treat humanity only as a means, but as an end within itself
• The Kingdom of Ends

  • Always act as though you are morally responsible for making the rules for a kingdom
• The Kingdom of Ends is the less known of the formulations
• In 'Religion Within the Bounds of Bare Reason', Kant suggests that humanity has a tendency towards radical evil where people focus on self-interest
• Kant's Summum bonum:

  Underpinned by the three 'postulates of practical reason': God, freedom and immortality
• kant's summum bonum

  1. Strive not to be happy, but to be worthy of happiness
  2. Virtue is important because a virtuous person has good will
  3. Believe in the highest good- as an autonomous human individual, you will be worthy of happiness if you act morally
• Summum bonum- the highest or ultimate good
• In Kantianism, summum bonum is used to descrive the ultimate importance, the overriding end which humans ought to pursue
• Kant says human's should pursue God, freedom and immortality