Ethics 1: Deontology and Kantian Ethics

• Main message of Deontology:

  The only thing that is good without qualification or restriction is good will
• Deontology / Kantian Ethics
• Good will is the only thing that is good regardless of other things
• Helping is not good in itself
• Helping and eating vegetables are only conditional good
• Immanuel Kant proposed Deontology/ Kantian Ethics
• How is good will produced?

  1. freedom
  2. the role of reason
  3. for the sake of duty
• Motive of Duty vs Motive of Inclination
• A maxim is a principle upon which we act
• good will is only present objective principles
• Obey law - categorical imperative
• Deontology has something to do with consideration of rules, rather than consequences.
• It is not, however, the convenience that deontology affords that makes it a valid ethical system.
• For Kant, deontology has to find its groundwork in moral duties that can be considered universal laws.
• These moral duties must stem from every human person's good will.
• Good will is what prompts every human person to distill actions and search for that which must be done only because our intellect tells us it is right. In other words, good will is that which tells us to do what is right simply because it is right.
• There are two kinds of imperatives that we deal with in life: hypothetical and categorical.
• Hypothetical imperatives are those that we do for the sake of something else. It is prudence that dictates this imperative.
• Categorical imperatives are those that we do for the sake of it being right, as deemed by reason and intellect. They are thus the product of reason and are produced by good will.
• The first is the universalizability principle. We ought to do an action only if it would be rational for everyone to do it, not because everyone does it or will do it, BUT again, because it would be rational for everyone to do it.
• The second is the ends-means principle. We ought to do an action only if it does not treat other human persons as MERE means to our ends. While being 'used' by others from time to time is a constant in a world of interdependence, what Kant was against is using others MERELY as means, rather than as ends themselves. For him, this diminishes the dignity of human persons by objectifying them.
• The third has to do with respecting every human person's autonomy. Given that we consider what every rational person would do (first formulation) and that we shouldn't treat others as mere means to end (second formulation), we ought therefore to respect every human person's capacity to decide for himself or herself.
• Some are conditional good because it is only helping us to achieve the good
• You only do conditional good because you want the immediate good result that it will produce.

  • eating vegetable = live longer
  • help = they help back
• Good will is still good even when it does not produce the results at which it aims.
• If you help someone out of good will, but was not able to fully help that person. It is still considered as good as good will is not derived from the result.
• Whenever behavior is biologically determined (gravity) or socially conditioned (tastes), it is not free.
• To act freely, is to act autonomously - to act according to a law that is given to one's self
• The good, duties and rights do not depend on consequences, but on the fact that we are humans - our reasons
• Reason is after good will to restore freedom. Good will is manifested in acting for the sake of duty.
• If one live up to that motive of duty, then one is acting out of good will
• Helping because of sympathizing = inclination
• Subjective Principles - on which a rational agent does act

  • I will eat
  • I will testify
• Objective principle - rational agent would necesarily act if reason had full control over actions
• Good will is only located in objective principles