Kant

• The only thing that is good without qualification is the good will.
• Kant's theory is deontological- it is an ethic of motive and duty and its rules are absolute and exceptionless.
• Kant believed everyone had an inbuilt sense of moral duty.
• Goodness cannot be measured by consequences, as these are uncertain.
• Acts that result from intellect or personality are at best instrumentally good.
• Kant said we should do what is right because that is part of what it means to be a rational human being.
• Our capacity for rational thought is an innate intellectual power that human beings possess more or less equally and that distinguishes human beings from animals.
• Kant's attempts to define a good will:

  • Rejected Hume's links to self-interest, emotions, desires and consequences as these could change.
  • It is all about having the right motive and duty alone provides this.
  • Duty for duty's sake means obeying a particular moral principle out of duty.
• What does duty for duty's sake mean?

  Obeying a particular moral principle out of duty.
• What did Kant name the idea of 'duty for duty's sake'?

  The Categorical Imperative.
• The Categorical Imperative

  • Deontological.
  • No uncertainty or dependence on anything else.
  • A universal absolute principle that can be used at all times, i.e. Do not murder, do not steal etc.
  • No concern with the outcome at all.
• The Hypothetical imperative

  • Teleological.
  • Not concerned with moral actions.
  • Concerned with actions that have an outcome, i.e. if you do something then this will happen.
  • No obligation to follow this type of imperative unless you want to achieve the outcome.
  • Kant through the hypothetical imperatives were of no use as he wanted to find an absolute moral rule.
• Why did Kant think the Hypothetical Imperative was of no use?

  He wanted to find an absolute moral rule.
• What is the summum bonum?

  The highest good. Where virtue meets its appropriate reward of perfect happiness. Humans should strive to be worthy of this happiness.
• How can summum bonum be achieved?

  Obedience to the Categorical Imperative is the means of being worthy of it.
• Three formulations of the Categorial Imperative:

  • Universalisability of the principle underlying the action.
  • Never treat people merely as a means to an end, but always as ends in themselves.
  • Kingdom of Ends: Act as if you were making laws for a kingdom that treated people as ends in themselves.
• What does it mean if a person is an end in themselves?

  Their inherent value doesn't depends on anything else- it doesn't depend on if the person is enjoying their life or making other people's lives better. They exist, so they have value.
• What are the three postulates?

  God, immortality and freedom.
• What did Kant call the three assumptions he made about the world?

  The three postulates.
• What did Kant say about the three postulates?

  1. The world is basically fair, so since the reward of perfect happiness for virtue cannot be achieved in this world, there must be immortality.
  2. Only God can provide immortality so he exists to guarantee summum bonum.
  3. We cannot prove that we have free will, but it is a necessary assumption since free will is at the heart of morality.
• Universalisability.


  The main formulation of the Categorical Imperative: Act only according to that principle whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.
• Reasons why Kant's theory is compatible with religion:

  1. The 'end' of moral decision-making is similar for both Kant and Aquinas- summum bonum/heaven.
  2. Two of the three postulates of practical reason are God and the afterlife.
  3. Kant recognises the intrinsic worth of humans as do most Christians.
• Reasons why Kant's theory isn't compatible with religion:

  1. Kant says the moral law must be autonomous and not religious for the agent to have a good will.
  2. Kant makes no appeal to text/scripture as an ethical authority.
  3. The Categorical Imperative is an unconditional command- but this nature of command is incompatible with some versions of Christianity (e.g. Situation ethics).
• One strength of Kant's Categorical Imperative is that it and the principle of universalisability are clear and effective.

  However, the basis of the theory in something beyond what we can experience makes it just an assumption: Kant's idea of universal moral rules is not true to the world we live in.
• One strength of Kant's Categorical Imperative is that the primacy of reason rather than emotion promotes objective fairness.

  However it can be argued that this is unrealistic, as emotional are an integral part of what it is to be human.
• One strength of Kant's Categorical Imperative is that the second principle of the Categorical Imperative promotes equality and justice, which are at the heart of modern human rights.

  However, it can be argued that the Categorical Imperative is wholly anthropomorphic. Kant's ethics devalued animals and the environment so are wholly inappropriate for modern ethics.
• One strength of Kant's Categorical Imperative is that the summum bonum argument makes sense to those who are religious, and in any case, it is not essential to Kant's key ethical arguments.Setting it to one side does not invalidate his theory of the Categorical Imperative.

  However, it can be argued that this argument not only makes no sense to non-religious people, it is also full of questionable assumptions. It weakens the theory as a whole.