Kantian ethics

Duty

• duties are obligations we have towards someone or something

• these could be general duties (towards anyone, e.g. do not murder) or specific duties (because of our particular relationships, e.g. to provide for one’s children)

Acting out of duty

doing the right action with a good will (for the sole reason that it is your duty) 

Acting in accordance with duty

doing the right action (for some other reason)

heteronomously

autonomously

hypothetical imperative

An imperative is a command or order. A hypothetical imperative is a statement about what you ought to do, on the condition of some desire or goal. Hypothetical imperatives are often presented in the form “you must x if y” e.g. “you ought to study hard if you want to pass your exam”.

first formulation of the categorical imperative

“I ought never to act except in such a way that I could also will that my maxim should become a universal law”

second formulation of the categorical imperative

“Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or the person of another, always an end, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end”

maxim

underlying an action there is a rule (which you may or may not be consciously aware of) which Kant calls these rules “maxims”

categorical imperative

An absolute command we are obliged to follow in all circumstances are categorical and only these imperatives are moral. As rational agents we can work out the categorical imperative by asking whether the maxim that lies behind our action is universalizable and treats people as ends in themselves.

Contradiction in conception

a maxim is wrong if willing everyone to act on it would be somehow self-contradictory. If a maxim is found to be a contradiction in conception then its negation becomes a perfect duty [an absolute duty to be done by everyone all the time]

Contradiction in will

this is where willing a certain maxim would be contradictory, not because it leads to a logical contradiction, but because it leads to something it would be irrational to want. 

Perfect duties

one which one must always do e.g. do not lie, do not steal

Imperfect duties

a duty which one must not ignore but admits of multiple means of fulfilment. Kant specifies two imperfect duties: the duty of self-improvement and the duty of aid others

good will

the intention to do the right action for its own sake, without any other motivation. It is the only thing that is morally good without qualification.

Kant’s account of what is meant by a good will

In Kant, the good will is the will that is motivated by duty, which Kant argues means that it chooses in accordance with reason. It is the only thing that is morally good without qualification.