Kantian Ethics

Kant defended the view that there are moral rules that hold absolutely

  • without exception

human beings can act on the basis of hypothetical and categorical imperatives

hypothetical imperatives hold conditional on having relevant desire

categorical imperatives hold unconditionally

all moral imperatives = categorical

intentions matter, motive of duty vs motives of inclination

only actions done from motive of duty have moral worth

first formulation

  • act only on that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law → act only on principle that we could universalize without contradiction

second formulation

  • every person is worthy of respect because we are rational beings, capable of reason, and autonomous beings , capable of acting and choosing independent of desires, interests, etc

objections

  1. the notion that we have obligations that hold without exception is inconsistent with our considered moral judgements

  2. it is logically untenable to hold that moral rules are absolute

D.W. Ross

recognizes plurality of prima facie moral duties

prime facie duties sometimes come into conflict, some duties will override others

how do we know our moral duties?

intuition = prime facie duties are “self-evidently true”

how do we know which duties take priority?

we use our best judgement