1. Immanuel Kant

2. Kant’s Ethical Theory Objectives
To know what Kant meant by ‘good will’ and ‘duty’
To understand his ‘imperatives’
To identify examples which explain his ethical theory

3. Biography… An enlightenment philosopher Born 1724, Died 1804
Argued that we are not entitled to make claims based on human reason about what is not phenomenally accessible (composed to or relating to things that occupy space or can be perceived by the senses), since they were unknowable.
Kant was the philosopher of human autonomy, the view that by the use of our own reason in its broadest sense human beings can discover and live up to the basic principles of knowledge and action without outside assistance, above all without divine support or intervention.
Famous works… Critique of Pure Reason (1781). Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785) and the Critique of Practical Reason (1788)

4. Immanuel Kant
Born, spent his whole life , died in Konigsberg in East Prussia
He stands as part of the ‘European Enlightenment’ – the attempt to get beyond authority and superstition and deal with the world on the basis of HUMAN REASON.
He had a strict Lutheran upbringing
His education was very strict
He was appointed professor of Logic and Metaphysics when he wa 45
Kant was well known for being a creature of habit – locals could set their watches by his morning walks
He never married, he didn't travel (he once travelled 60 miles from his home town).
His ideas were visionary, powerful and important
He has been described as ‘one of the greatest thinkers of all time’

5. His beliefs… He believed only because he concluded he MUST.
Born a Lutheran (extremely pious upbringing) but…
He believed only because he concluded he MUST.
He himself proved that there was no proof of
God, and no NEED of God except as part of a
"system" that he thought was necessary to the
workings of the human mind.

6. Why is this person helping the old woman across the road?
Write down 10 possible reasons for the younger persons
action in the picture. Put a tick or a cross to indicate
good/bad reasons
Why is this person helping the old woman across the road?

7. formulate your judgement?
Consider whether the action
was good or bad.
Helping the old woman across the road led to her being knocked down and killed.
Helping the old woman across the road was a camouflage for stealing her purse.
What are you using to
formulate your judgement?

8. Copernican Revolution
Just as Copernicus had found
that his observations made
sense once he has realised that
the earth moved around the
sun rather than the other way
round – Kant argued that we
experience the world as we do
because that is the way our
senses function. We do not
know things as they are in
themselves but only as they
appear to us.

9. Kant was influenced by science and by the gathering and assessment of empirical evidence
The impetus behind his Copernican revolution was the attempt to reconcile the ambiguity in empirical evidence that he found in Hume with the laws of nature, as framed by Newton

10. A sense of moral obligation
For Kant, the key issue is how to discover a rational basis for one’s sense of duty and, from that, to devise a principle by which one could distinguish between right and wrong
Like Aristotle, Kant believed that knowledge begins with EXPERIENCE, with PRACTICAL REASON.

11. Duty… Kant sought to discover and set out a
rational basis for one’s sense of duty, and
from that devise principles by which one
could distinguish right from wrong.
Crack the code to find Kant’s key quote
and complete the task…

12. A sense of moral duty…
What key points about Kant’s ethical theory can we deduce just from this quote?

13. Kant and Moral Choice…
Aquinas’s sense of Natural Law and the Utilitarian’s
weighing of the consequences both attempted to establish
some objective basis for moral claims.
Kant started from a totally different position. He argued
that we all know what it is to have a sense of moral
obligation – to believe that there is something we ought to
do, irrespective of the consequences it may have for us.
Starting from the experience of morality, he believed that
it should be possible to give a systematic account of moral
duties and of the principles upon which they are founded,
which would be based on pure reason and would therefore
be universal.

14. CAUSALITY
If you feel pain and are sent sprawling then your natural reaction will be to look for the cause i.e. the person who thumped you!
Kant says that you experience the world in this way because CAUSALITY is part of the structure of your mind i.e. it is a category which actively shapes sensations so that you will always experience the world in this particular way.
The law of causality is therefore not a law ‘out there’ instead it is a priori (knowledge not based on experienced) law of the mind which shapes the way you experience the world
Kant says that we can never know the world as it is - it is a PHENOMENON or appearance and it may be very different from the world as it is in itself.

15. Reason
Kant, along with other philosophers of the ‘enlightenment’, attaches great importance to man’s ability to reason
A human being is essentially, a rational being, and it is this that constitutes his intrinsic dignity.
Reason, says Kant, is an innate, intellectual power existing more or less equally in all men, it enables the individual to resolve problems in a way, more or less acceptable to everyone.
If reason is universal, the moral commands generated by reason will be universal and applicable to all men.

16. WHAT IS HIS DUTY?
Your response:
Duty - something that one is expected or required to do by moral or legal obligation.

17. WHAT IS HER DUTY?
Your response:
Duty - something that one is expected or required to do by moral or legal obligation.

18. WHAT IS YOUR DUTY?
Your response:
Duty - something that one is expected or required to do by moral or legal obligation.

19. Duty… We each have a duty to act morally and to follow moral law.
Duty is different from acting out of inclination or compassion
Kant’s theory of ethics is an absolute one; he
believes we should do our duty because it is our
duty to do so.

20. DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
Kant’s theory is deontological since it begins with the experience of a moral ‘ought’ and examines rational principles that define what is morally right
DUTY / OBLIGATION
DOES NOT DEPEND ON CONSEQUENCES
LOOKS BACK AT THE NATURE OF THE ACT
OBEY RULES BECAUSE THEY ARE GOOD

21. For Kant moral judgements are not relative or subjective.
Continued…
Kant believed in an objective right and wrong based on moral
reason. We should do the right thing just because it is right and
not because it fulfils our desires or is based on our feelings. We
know what is right not by relying on our intuitions or facts about
the world about the world, but by using our reason. To test a
moral maxim, we need to ask whether we can always say that
everyone should follow it and we must reject it if we cannot.
For Kant moral judgements are not relative or subjective.
Although modern deontology avoids too close a link with Kant,
criticising him for being too absolute, his moral theory is still
influential.

22. Kant Universal Maxims
A maxim is a general rule in accordance with which we intend to act.

23. CELEBRATION!! Kant’s moral theory begins with The phenomenon of
Key thought
We know we are free because we experience moral choice. We do not experience moral choice only after coming to the conclusion that we are free.
CELEBRATION!!
Kant’s moral theory begins with
The phenomenon of
‘GOOD WILL’, celebrating
what can be achieved by the
application of human reason.
GOOD WILL
For Kant if I am to act morally then I must be capable of
exercising freedom or autonomy of the will.
“It is impossible to conceive of anything in all the world
which can be taken as good without qualification, except a
good will. Good will is like a jewel, it should shine by its own
light, as a thing which has it’s own value in itself”

24. For Kant, the action in the picture is only good if the man has
chosen to act out of a
sense of ‘good will’
A person might act out of kindness because it makes
them feel/look good, but this is wrong.
The only acceptable reason for putting good will into
action is a sense of duty, freely choosing the action
because you ought to do it. Without motive.
Could link in the mad axe man here – Kant would insist we tell the truth, honesty is what we ought to do.

25. Duty for Duty’s sake… Debate
“There is no such thing a a sense of duty.
People only act for their own ends. Looking
after number one is a basic human instinct”.

26. The shopkeeper
A shopkeeper is always kind and friendly to you when you go into his shop, he highlights special offers and is prepared to offer you cut price deals as a regular customer. All of these will be limiting his profits
What possible reasons are there for this kind of behaviour?

27. Kant Knowledge Posteriori From experience
Priori Knowledge that we have first hand. Moral knowledge comes from within and is priori.

28. Synthetic and Analytic propositions and Judgements
Analytic Judgements is where the predicate belongs to the subject
‘All bachelors are unmarried’
Analytic Judgements are judgments in clarification as they clarify what is already found.
A priori/posteriori
Synthetic Judgements are those in which the predicate is outside the subject, and therefore must be made certain with reference to something other than the meanings of terms and laws of logic.
The table in the kitchen is round. To test if true we need more information because tables are not universally round. This is judgement of amplification, it adds new information to the subject. (A priori)

29. Imperatives… Imperative – Something that must be done.
“All imperatives command either hypothetically or
categorically… if the action would be good simply
as a means to something else, then the imperative
is hypothetical; but if the action is represented as
good in itself… then the imperative is categorical.”

30. Hypothetical Imperative
A moral command that is conditional on personal
motive or desire. It informs us of a factual relation
between a goal and how to achieve it. There is no
concept of obligation attached to it and Kant didn’t see
any moral reference in there.
Hypothetical imperatives always begin with an ‘if’.
If you want X then you must do Y.
If I want to lose weight then I ought to go on a
diet…

31. Categorical Imperative
Tells us what we ought to do.
Kant argued that morality is prescriptive and moral
statements are categorical in that they prescribe
actions irrespective of the result. They are
moral obligations.
An unconditional moral law that applies to all
rational beings and is independent of personal
motive or desire. For Kant the C.I. was the
principle that one should act on a maxim only if
one can will that it becomes universal law.

32. An example from Kant
There are two butchers in a town one of them ( Frank) desires increased trade, a good reputation and an ever expanding turnover. In order to achieve this he sells only the best meat, gives excellent service and never cheats his customers.
The other butcher (Fred) does exactly the same as Frank except that he believes, by reason, that he ought to and for no other reason than this. His motive is pure and unconditional.

33. An example from Kant CATEGORICAL HYPOTHETICAL
There are two butchers in a town one of them ( Frank) desires increased trade, a good reputation and an ever expanding turnover. In order to achieve this he sells only the best meat, gives excellent service and never cheats his customers.
HYPOTHETICAL
The other butcher (Fred) does exactly the same as Frank except that he believes, by reason, that he ought to and for no other reason than this. His motive is pure and unconditional.
CATEGORICAL

34. Three Principles of the C.I.
Universal Law.
Treat Humans as ends not as ‘means to an end’
The Kingdom of Ends

35. Universal Law.
Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should be universal law.
Kant calls this the Formulation of Nature and argued
that the only actions that are moral are those that can
be universalised – applied in all situations and to all
rational beings, without exception.

36. Treat humans as ends not a ‘means to an end
This means that you should act so that you treat humanity,
both in your own person and in the person of every other
human being, never merely as a means, but always at the
same time as an end.
Kant held human beings as the pinnacle of creation.
Therefore, it can never be moral to exploit people, to use
them as a means to an end. Each person is unique and of
equal value so cannot be sacrificed, even if it would result
in some overall greater good.

37. The Kingdom Of Ends Act on the assumption that all will act in the
same way. You should act as if you were
through your maxim a law-making member of
a kingdom of ends.
Kant argued that our actions had to be
based on the assumption that others would
also act morally and treat everyone as ends,
not means.

38. Key Thought
The implication of Kant’s Categorical Imperative is that, as free, autonomous, rational, moral agents, we do not discover morality – we make it!

39. Examples… An example of a moral rule, derived from the
previous principles of the Categorical Imperative ,
would be: ‘Do not lie’.
Kant argues that this rule applies universally. He
applied the following reasoning. Is it moral to lie? He
would apply the first law and reason what would happen
if it were universalised. Such action – lying – would
clearly harm society. It would also involve treating
people as means to an end rather than as ends
themselves. The conclusion is the lying is immoral.

44. AUTONOMOUS WILL Acts freely Acts rationally Without compulsion Willing
Dutiful
No inner desires

45. HETERONOMOUS WILL Does not act freely Rationally constrained
Morally fettered
Inner desires

46. The Categorical Imperative

47. The three postulates: Freedom, immortality and God

48. Freedom and summum bonum
We act consistently according to universal rules rather than momentary impulses. The father in the car may feel priority is his family but the needs is the upturned car are greater then driving by.

49. SUMMUM BONUM Kant referred to the highest good as the SUMMUM BONUM
The best possible good comprising of virtue and happiness
In Kant's famous argument OUGHT implies CAN: an obligation to do something implies the possibility that the goal can be achieved, otherwise there can be no obligation. It has to be possible
However, while humans can achieve virtue, it is clearly outside their power to ensure that virtue is rewarded or coincides with happiness
Thus there is a need to postulate the existence of God as the one who has the power to bring virtue and happiness into harmony. Such proportioning clearly does not take place before death, so Kant also argued that there must be survival after death
Handouts photocopies from OCR Cole and Gray AS Text book page 162.

50. Immortality
In our present world there may be good people doing their duty , but they may not find happiness in this world and may not meet a happy end. So, the immortality of the soul can allow correct happiness to be ensured beyond life.

51. God
God has ensured that in the end the world was arranged correctly to ensure the highest good in the end. God recognises the striving that humans have taken.

52. Evaluating Kant’s Imperatives
To know the key criticisms to his theory
To identify strengths of his theory
To evaluate the usefulness of his theory

53. A quick task… (A01 Skills)
Explain without using your notes why Kant’s theory is deontological (moral content of an action is not wholly dependent on its consequences)

54. Kant … A02 Skills
In pairs come up with 5 main criticisms of Kant’s theory that you have uncovered this week.

55. What other criticisms are there?...
‘is’ is not the same as an ‘ought’.
Kant said that what is good is what we ought to do. This may
appear to make sense however, Kant may have said “a dog is a
good pet”. That is a descriptive sentence which just tells us
how things are. If Kant followed his own argument, he
would say “a dog is a good pet so you ought to have a dog”.
This clearly shows how Kant moves a statement from
descriptive to a prescriptive rule.
Tasks
Make up 3 statements where a descriptive statement
becomes a prescriptive rule (the more nonsense the
better!!)
In your own words explain the problem of moving an ‘is’
statement to an ‘ought’.

56. Assessing Kant’s theory… Is it helpful?
Categorical Imperative supposed to prevent bad moral maxims such as lying, it fails the universality test.
But Suicide? Kant says suicide contradicts survival. Pojman Suicide possible universalise, there may be a preference to not existence as it alleviates suffering.
Or I might never set myself a goal whose achievement appears to require cooperation of others.

57. Should ethical judgement be based on duty?
Moral behaviour is about human improvement, by striving to act properly we become happier and society becomes happier.
Idealistic? Torn between reasons? Inner influences? Emotions?

58. Too abstract for practical decision making?
Requires person detach themselves from emotions and focus principles. In a situation would you think of universal laws of nature? How about Sergeant Angel?
Systems of ethics based on emotions could easily justify selfish conduct.
But if we are based on emotion we might need Kants’ rules to guide us.

59. Kantian ethics reliant on reason?
Feelings often motivate moral responses.
Would our feelings lead us astray? In a court if base our justice on emotions rather than the fair application of law – This would suggest Kant is right.
Is this action justified?

60. A quick test… Without using your notes.. (be brave!!!)
Categorical Imperative
Hypothetical Imperative
Duty
Good Will
The Kingdom of Ends
Maxim
Summum Bonum
Universalisability

61. Comparing… Is Kant’s deontological theory more useful or
helpful than a teleological theory such as Utilitarianism?

62. Homework… Revise Kant. Timed essay without any notes for next lesson.
We need to get used to this now – no excuses!!!