Class 6

Kant

Kant

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)

From Königsberg, Germany.

Discussion

“Nothing can possibly be conceived in

the world, or even out of it, which can be called good, without qualification, except a good will.”

The good will

Anything that we would ordinarily call good can be used for evil by a person of ill will

Therefore the only thing that can be called good unqualifiedly is the good will.

DiscussionWhat does Kant mean by “Now all imperatives command either

hypothetically or categorically. Hypothetical imps represent the practical necessity of a possible action as means to something else that is willed (or at least which one might possibly will). The categorical imperative would be that which represented an action as necessary of itself without reference to another end, i.e., as objectively necessary.”

(Page 34 of Bonevac)

Vocabulary

Hypothetical Imperative: a command that applies to you only if you have some goal

Categorical Imperative: a command that applies to you no matter what.

Categorical vs. Hypothetical Imperatives

Hypothetical Imperative:

Example: “If you don’t want to get wet, take an umbrella”

Only applies if you have a particular goal

Categorical Imperative:

Example: “Seek the good”

Applies no matter what your goals are.

Vocabulary

Maxim: The rule implicit in any action

The Categorical Imperative: First Formulation

Immanuel Kant:“Act only according

to that maxim whereby you can at the same time

will that it should become a universal law”

Picture from: http://www.felix-en-sofie.nl/images/kant.jpg

The Categorical Imperative: First Formulation

• When you universalize, you look for a contradiction

The Method• Identify the maxim• Universalize the maxim• Contradiction-in-conception test:

• Is there a LOGICAL contradiction between goal and maxim if everyone followed the maxim?

• Contradiction-in-will test• In PRACTICE, would the maxim achieve the

intended goals if everyone followed the maxim?

Example 1

• A man needs to borrow money, but knows he can’t pay it back.

• Maxim: When in need, make false promises.

• Contradiction in conception test: fails: you cannot promise to break promises.

Example 2• A person considers helping another at his

own expense• Maxim: Anyone who is well off need only

help themselves• Contradiction in conception test: pass: In a

world where everyone only helps themselves, people succeed in helping only themselves

• Contradiction-in-will test: fail: In a world where everyone only helps themselves, people’s desires to be helped fail.

Vocabulary

Perfect duty: A duty that one has no choice about how to follow

Imperfect duty: A uty that one must follow, but can follow at the time and place of one’s choosing

Internal Duty: A duty to selfExternal Duty: A duty to others

The four examples:

1. [Perfect duty to self.] Don’t commit suicide.

2. [Perfect duty to others.] Don’t make a lying promise

3. [Imperfect duty to self.] Develop your talents.

4. [Imperfect duty to others.] Help those who need aid.

DiscussionWhat does Kant mean by:“But what sort of law can that be, the conception of which

must determine the will, even without paying any regard to the effect expected from it, in order that this will may be called good absolutely and without qualification? As I have deprived the will of every impulse which could arise to it from obedience to any law, there remains nothing but the universal conformity of its actions to law in general, which alone is to serve the will as a principle, i.e., I am never to act otherwise than so that I could also will that my maxim should become a universal law.”

(Page 5 of the readings)

Proof of the first formulation

1. Goodness is solely a matter of having a good will, without regard to any kind of end.

2. The only will that is good without any kind of end in mind is a will to obey the law.

3. Therefore the the categorical imperative must be “Act only on that maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will that it should become a universal law.”

Discussion: Has Kant proven the first categorical Imperative?

Categorical Imperative, Second FormulationImmanuel Kant:“Act in such a way that

you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of another, always at the same time as an end and never simply as a means”

Image from: http://www.orst.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/kant.html

Categorical Imperative, Second Formulation

• In other words, don’t use people like tools.

• By “humanity” Kant basically means sapience.

• Something has humanity if it is able to give the moral law to itself.

Example 3

• Never kill yourself. • “He who so behaves…has no respect

for human nature and makes a thing of himself.”

Discussion Does Kant’s theory yield the correct result with example 3

DiscussionWhat does Kant mean when he says“Beings whose existence depends not on our will but on

nature's, have nevertheless, if they are irrational beings, only a relative value as means, and are therefore called things; rational beings, on the contrary, are called persons, because their very nature points them out as ends in themselves, that is as something which must not be used merely as means, and so far therefore restricts freedom of action (and is an object of respect). These, therefore, are not merely subjective ends whose existence has a worth for us as an effect of our action, but objective ends, that is, things whose existence is an end in itself”

(Page 36 of your reading)

Proof of the second formulation

While all other things can only be valuable as the object of a rational will, only humans have a rational will to begin with.

Therefore “act as to treat humanity, whether in thine own person or in that of any other, in every case as an end withal, never as a means only.”

Discussion: Has Kant proven the second categorical Imperative?