Kantian Ethics

• A priori


  Knowledge which is not dependent on sense experience, such as 'circle is round' which is true by definition
• Autonomy


  The belief that we are self-directed beings, the centre of our own worlds, making our own free choices
• Categorical


  Without any doubt or possibility of being changed
• Categorical imperative


  That which our reason teaches us must always be done. There are three forms of the imperative. Or an unconditional moral obligation that is always binding irrespective of a person's inclination or purpose
• First form of the categorical imperative


  Act only on that maxim that you can will to be universal law. This means that we should only do what we are willing for everyone to do. If I want to rob a bank, am I willing that everyone should also be a thief? If I cannot will this, then I should not rob banks
• Second form of the categorical imperative


  So act to treat persons always as an ends and never as a means only. Things should be done for the good of people, and people should never just be used for the sake of others or to support some abstract ideal
• Third form of the categorical imperative

  So act to treat everyone, including yourself, as an end in the kingdom of ends. This connects with the second form of the categorical imperative, and insists upon human dignity. Actions are done for the sake of persons, and we should treat everyone including ourselves, as the people for whom good must be done
• Deontological ethics


  Any ethical system which ignores outcomes, concentrating just on whether the act is good in itself
• Duty


  Duties are created by the moral law, to follow it is our duty. The word deontological means duty-based
• Enlightenment


  The Enlightenment is not an historical period, but a process of social, psychological or spiritual development, unbound to time or place. Immanuel Kant defines "enlightenment" in his famous contribution to debate on the question in an essay entitled "An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?" (1784), as humankind's release from its self-incurred immaturity; "immaturity is the inability to use one's own understanding without the guidance of another"
• Free will


  The belief that we are able to make our own uncompelled choices of life
• Heteronomy


  For Kant, the state of being directed by others in our decision-making
• Human dignity


  Dignity is the right of a person to be valued and respected for their own sake, and to be treated ethically
• Hypothetical imperative


  What we must do to achieve a particular goal. There is no requirement to follow this, but it is how we should act if we wish to achieve something; it has the character of 'If...then...' A moral obligation that applies only if one desires the implied goal
• Intrinsic


  If something has intrinsic value or intrinsic interest, it is valuable or interesting because of its basic nature or character, and not because of its connection with other things
• Immorality


  The belief that we will live forever in an afterlife
• Imperative


  Not to be avoided or evaded: necessary - expressive of a command, entreaty, or exhortation
• Kingdom of ends


  An imagined future in which all people act in accordance to the moral law, the categorical imperative
• Maxims


  Another word for moral rules, determined by reason
• Moral law


  Binding moral obligations
• Moral


  Relating to the standards of good or bad behaviour, fairness, honesty, etc. that each person believes in, rather than to laws
• Predetermined


  Decided or arranged at an earlier time
• Postulate


  A principle so evident that it needs no justification; it may be taken as an assumption
• Rationalist


  Rationalists claim that there are significant ways in which our concepts and knowledge are gained independently of sense experience. As opposed to Empiricists claim that sense experience is the ultimate source of all our concepts and knowledge
• Summum bonum


  The highest, most supreme good