Immanuel Kant's Moral Philosophy

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

Kant's theory is built upon three central insights: duty, universalizability, and respect.
Duty: Moral worth is attached to an action if it is performed for the sake of duty.
Universalizability: An action has moral correctness if its guiding principle (maxim) can be applied universally.
Respect: Humanity should always be treated as an end and never as a means.

Moral worth relies on the reason behind an action, not just adherence to duty; actions must stem from a concern for what is morally right.

The Grocer: A grocer being honest with inexperienced customers. It illustrates that self-interest isn't enough to guarantee moral rightness. It's in the grocer's best interest to be honest to retain customers. Therefore:
- Duty ≠ Self-Interest
Refusing Suicide: A person refusing to commit suicide despite a life full of miseries. The refusal gains moral worth only if motivated by duty, not by squeamishness or a desire to live.
- Duty ≠ Futility
Helping Others: Two types of people help others:
- One helps out of sympathy or compassion.
- The other helps out of a sense of duty, lacking care, compassion, or sympathy. In Kant's view, the latter is morally superior.
- Duty ≠ Inclination

Moral Minimalism: The ethic seems to overemphasize doing only what is morally required.
Moral Alienation: Exclusive focus on duty as the sole motive may lead to a deep division between reason, freedom, and duty versus irrationality, causality, and emotion. A more complete view should recognize emotions as essential to moral agency.

Morality as a Struggle: Only those who overcome narrow self-interest demonstrate moral goodness.

Moral demands are categorical (unconditional), not hypothetical.
They aren't about achieving desires (like happiness in utilitarianism) but independent of desires.
A demand of morality is categorical when it presents "an action of itself objectively necessary, without regard to any other end".
Moral principles are imperatives, commanding us to act.

First Formulation: "I ought never to act in such a way that I could not also will that my maxim should be a universal law". What's fair for one is fair for all.
Universality is critical; moral law applies to everyone impartially, and we should be suspicious of making exceptions for ourselves.
Therefore, moral imperatives shouldn't be expressed in terms of "I".
Formal Formulation: "Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law".
All people at all times are morally forbidden to act on maxims they can't consistently will to be universal laws.
Behavior is guided by subjective rules (Maxims) which influences one's behavior.
We always have a maxim underlying our actions. Every action ties into the subjective reasons that motivate us. Categorical imperatives ensure these subjective reasons align with an objective system of reasons.
The universalizability test helps us identify actions any rational being would willingly acknowledge.

Subjective Maxims \rightarrow Objective Maxims

Respect involves acting in particular ways toward others, it should manifest itself in action.
Respect means not taking away autonomy from others (the ability to make informed decisions).
Respect is directed toward persons and their rationality.