Introduction to Philosophy

Achieve Test Prep: Philosophy

our actions. The ability to think rationally provides us with the insight and authority to determine what we ought to do.

Kant distinguishes two kinds of moral imperatives known as hypothetical imperatives and categorical imperatives. Hypothetical imperative is a moral maxim (saying) that does not express a value that one should pursue independently. Instead the action being commanded by the maxim is seen only as a means to something else. None of the actions being commanded are considered to be intrinsically good, instead they are good only as a means to something else. Categorical imperative commands actions that are intrinsically good, not actions that are good as a means to something else. They prescribe ways of acting that all rational beings are morally required to follow. Kant focuses on the logical form or moral maxims (a maxim is a moral law). A moral action is one that a rational person can consistently universalize as a moral law applicable to all rational creatures. What determines the moral value of an action is not its content, consequences, intention, or the character of the individual acting; rather, it is whether it is logically consistent for the action to be practiced by all. Kant’s metaphysics of morals is based on the concept that humans are rational creatures and as such we are necessarily committed to the belief in logical consistency. When we universalize an action as commanded by the categorical imperative, if the result of our universalized action is logically inconsistent in the real world, then it must be morally wrong. Reason insists that we be impartial in evaluating the needs and perspective of people, and when we do this, it is apparent that as rational creatures, all people share the same intrinsic worth. Kant believed that all people possess the same intrinsic value, a value that is defined by the ability to understand their options and make autonomous choices, we should always act in a way that respects their inherent dignity as rational agents and we should never treat people instrumentally as a means to an end we want to achieve- meaning that we should not use people. Kant has an idea of a kingdom of ends in which every person is always treated as a person on intrinsic worth and that such a kingdom would be governed by laws that ensure the universal validity of all people and a harmonious community based on the unassailable rationality of the categorical imperative. Deontologists like Kant focus on the notion of duty or obligation as the measure of ethically correct conduct. For a deontologist, moral value is determined by following the moral maxims prescribed by reason. Kant believed the work of philosophy was to uncover those moral laws that are true independently of experience-a prior-therefore binding all people. Kant identified the supreme law that all rational beings are required to follow as the categorical imperative “Act as if the maxim of your action were to become by your will a universal law of nature.” An ethically enlightened person implements the categorical imperative by exercising his or her good will.

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