Kantian ethics

deontological

• duty based ethics, not on the basis of some perceived consequence or affect of the action

• actions are intrinsically right or wrong

context

• figure of the enlightenment

rationalist

• rejecting empiricism

• we cannot rely on our senses e.g. the mcgurk effect

humans

• humans have intrinsic dignity/value (rational creatures)

• this ability unified humans

• we should all come to the same rational conclusion about a moral problem

phenomena world

• using our sense experience, emotions, instincts

noumenal world

• world of reason; what sets us apart from non-human animals and other species

conclusion

• we use reason to decide which laws are moral

• reason is universal

• all moral laws must be universal - obeyed by everyone at all times

summum bonum

• highest good

• “a good will is not good because of what it effects or accomplishes, it is good in itself”

acting in accordance with reason

• acting purely because it is the right thing to do

• does not involve inclinations, desires or serving your own interests

retributionist

• supported the death penalty - believes that the murderer brings the execution upon himself, as by killing is he essentially saying that he would be happy to have that done to him.

god

• reason can point is towards god, as it is impossible for humans to do their duty perfectly in this life.

first formulation of the categorical imperative

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

contradictions in the law of nature

• rules that cannot even be considered as universal because they are self-contradictory

• suicide

contradictions in the will

• rules that are not contradictory in themselves, but which a person could not possibly wish to see universalised.

• lying

second formulation of the categorical imperative

• “so act that you use humanity…never merely as a means”

• universal dignity

• people should not be used as a means to an end or suffer to benefit someone else

animals

• “…all animals exist only as means, and not for their own sakes, in that they have no self-consciousness…”

strengths

• avoids utilitarian potential for abuse of minorities or individuals

• punishment never justified in terms of majority benefit

• avoids ‘rough justice’ (not completely in accordance with law)

• ‘feeling for humanity’ - all humans have value and dignity

• no religious foundation required

weaknesses

• Kant’s axe murderer thought experiment - absolutist against lying as morally wrong

• all people may be rational but we do not all have the same temperaments/desires

• “the categorical imperative will really not do as an explanation of where ethics comes from…it’s weakness lies in this separation of reason from all other human propensities” (Mary Warnock 1998)

‘ought implies can’

• if the good will tells us that we ought to do our moral duty, then that sense of ‘ought’ implies that we can in fact do our moral duty

postulates of practical reason

• God

• immortality

• freedom

align with Christian moral decision making

• universalizability - “love your neighbour as yourself” (Mark 12:31), “do unto others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31)

• the ‘end’ of moral decision making - for Kant, the end of moral activity is to achieve the perfect union of virtue and happiness in the summum bonum. For Aquinas, it is union with God in the next life.

inconsistent with Christian moral decision making

• kant is generally regarded as the leading figure of the european enlightenment, where human reason and autonomy are seen to triumph over earlier ages of superstition and the unquestioning acceptance of authority

• egocentric not theocentric - arrogant