moral week 6

Kant’s Project

• What is the supreme principle of morality?

• Does the supreme principle of morality exist?

First Formula

• The Formula of Universal Law (Contradiction in Conception) 

• The Formula of Law of Nature (Contradiction in Will) 

Second Formula

The Formula of Humanity

Third Formula

The Formula of Autonomy

The Formula of the Kingdom of Ends

What these three formulas represent

These three formulas are three representations of the same principle. They represent different aspects of the moral law. 

While Kant does not demonstrate the existence of the supreme principle of morality, he argues that we must presuppose its existence 

Goods Other than the Good Will

Gifts of Nature:

• Talents of Mind: understanding, wit, judgement

• Qualities of Temperament: courage, resolution, perseverance

Gifts of Fortune:

• Power, riches, honour, health

• Happiness understood as ‘complete well being and satisfaction with one’s condition’

The Value of the Good Will

The good will is the precondition for all good 

Only the good will is unconditionally good. For other goods, if they are used with bad intentions it will not result in good. An indication that something is good, is if it gives partial pleasure to an impartial spectator. Happiness is not unconditionally good because it can corrupt us.

The Purpose of Reason

Teleological Conception of Nature:

Nature gives creatures capacities suited to their proper function. Nature does not give useless faculties.

If the purpose of human beings were happiness, reason wouldn’t be the best tool for achieving it, instinct would be more suitable.

Therefore the true purpose of reason must instead be to produce a good will.

The Highest Good vs The Complete Good

The Highest Good- the good will. Because it is the condition that makes all other goods morally valuable.

The Complete Good- virtue (good will) and happiness. The ideal situation is a virtuous who is happy, but virtue is more fundamental.

Acting in Conformity with vs Acting from Duty:

If a person conforms to duty, then his actions are compatible with what duty requires no matter what their motivation

If a person acts from duty, not only must his actions be compatible with what duty requires, but they must be motivated in a certain way- for the sake of duty as opposed to rational self-interest. Only these actions have moral worth.

Inclination (faculty of desire, empirical desire)

The faculty of desire is the capacity to want things and act to obtain them.

Desiring an object involves a representation of the object accompanied by a feeling of pleasure.

When we encounter an object, the feeling of pleasure that results from it is the empirical desire. They arise because certain experiences affect us pleasantly. The desire is contingent and subjective.

When an empirical desire or aversion becomes habitual, it becomes an inclination. E.g. We are inclined to be good to our friends, because it brings us pleasure.

Kant’s First Proposition

An action has moral worth only when it is done from duty

Schiller’s Satire

“I like helping my friends, but unfortunately I do it from inclination, so maybe I’m not virtuous.”

His solution: “I should learn to despise my friends so that helping them becomes painful — then I’ll finally be moral!”

Schiller is mocking the idea that morality becomes purer the less you enjoy it

Kant’s response to Schiller

Kant denies these commitments. He claims that we have a duty to cultivate love, sympathy and other inclinations, to make it easier to do our duties. He says that it is fine to perform an act that comes from both duty and inclination, as long as you are acting out of duty. Inclination can be a side bonus, as long as it is not the reason why you are acting. 

Kant’s Second Proposition

There are two claims. The moral worth of an action done from duty, doesn’t depend on what it results in. It is not a consequentialist view. 

The moral worth of an action done from duty depends on its maxim, or volition.

A maxim

The content of an action,

An action conforming to duty elicits approval, whereas an action done from duty elicits esteem. What merits esteem, is that the person chose to do their duty, despite their subjective limitations or hindrances.

Kant’s Third Proposition

Respect is not an inclination.

A person respects something because they recognise the reasons why they must, regardless of what they want. It means you understand why the law exists and why it is good to follow it.

In acting from duty, a person manifests respect for the moral law.

Individuals are not the primary objects of respect, the moral law is.

First Derivation of the Categorical Imperative:

Universalise a maxim, and see if it causes a contradiction.

Schopenhauer’s Criticism

He thinks Kant’s argument is invalid, because how does merely universalising a maxim tell us what is morally wrong? Why assume contradiction matters morally?

Kant’s formulations of the categorical imperative answer this concern. The fuller system of formulations gives more guidance than the simplified slogan: ‘universalise your maxim’