Kantian AO1

Why did Kant base morality on reason?

suspicious of relying on religious dogma especially during enlightenment period. differing faiths also cant come to agreement. reason allows potential for agreement

what does Kant believe moral knowledge is?

a priori and synthetic

what does synthetic mean

brings in additional information from outside experience

what is Kantian ethics based on?

moral law- objective law that binds us

what does Kant believe about basing morality on pleasure

we would be slaves to animal instincts and since humans are rationally free we should act independently from pleasure

who inspired Kant

newton and the way he revolutionised the field through grounding inquiry on reason.

what is a categorical imperative

something we should do in all cases

what is a hypothetical imperative

what we should do in order to achieve certain goals

importance of reason for Kant

• ife, sometimes bad people go unpunished and good people go unrewarded. 

• He argued ethics cannot make sense unless we postulate the existence of an afterlife where virtuous people are rewarded and unvirtuous punished. Reward in the afterlife is the ‘summum bonum’.

why does Kant focus on the action in itself instead of consequence?

We don't know whether actions have the effect we intended or how people will act in the future - we cannot base moral system on possibilities

Quote of Kant claiming importance of good will

"There is no possibility at all of thinking of anything in the world - or even outside it - which can be considered good without qualification, except a good will.

Kant’s example of shopkeeper?

•  always gives people the right amount of change - two different shopkeepers give the right change for different reasons one is selfish the other for selfless duty. Kant wants us to be selfless

  • This tells us actions need to be in accordance of duty and out of duty

how will one know if action is moral

if good will is motivation

Kant’s quote on duty

'To do good to others where one can, is a duty'

influence of Kant’s teaching on Catholic thought?

John Paul 2 wrote, 'Anyone who treats a person as the means to an end does violence to the very essence of the other, to what constitutes it's natural rights.'

Coventry issue

Some historians claim Churchill was aware of the impending blitz on Coventry but chose not to warn the city as if he did it would become aware to the Germans that the enigma code was cracked. Churchill did not follow his duty by potentially saving the lives of those in Coventry but instead sacrificed the city in order to win the war.

Kant and God

some claim that Kantian ethics leaves no room for God but Kant believes morality is irrespective to God

what is the purpose of the categorical imperative system?

why does Kant reject hypothetical imperatives as genuine morality?

universal laws apply in all cases so must be categorical. Hypotheticals focus on conditionals or personal feelings

what are the three formulations for categorical imperatives?

1. universalizability

2. people are an ends on in themselves

3. kingdom of ends

why would it be self contradicting for stealing to be a universal maxim

It’s not actually possible for everyone to steal, since if everyone stole there’d be no property and then no one could steal.

what is a ‘good will’

one which has the right moral motivation. We must do our duty out of a sense of duty – not because of our own personal feelings or desires. E.g. we should give to charity because it’s our duty – not because we feel sympathy.

what are the three postulates?

1. free will

2. immortality

3. God

why is free will a postulate?

• Moral choices are only possible if people are free to make them as without free will there wouldn’t be such thing as moral responsibility

why is there a need for the afterlife in ethics?

• in life, sometimes bad people go unpunished and good people go unrewarded. 

• He argued ethics cannot make sense unless we postulate the existence of an afterlife where virtuous people are rewarded and unvirtuous punished. Reward in the afterlife is the ‘summum bonum’.

what does it mean to postulate

there is no proof by we must assume these thigs exist in order for the ethics we know to be valid and make sense