Preview

Kant's Categorical Imperative Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
567 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Kant's Categorical Imperative Essay
In the formulations of Kant’s categorical imperative: “Act only in agreement with that saw through which you can at the same time with that it become a universal law.” Philosophers argues that senses of the supreme principle of morality is an average of wisdom that can be styled the “categorical imperative”. Perhaps the strongest argument that philosophers gives for that claim relies on the claim that morality requires justification by the principle which means that all immoral actions are irrational because they interrupt the categorical imperative. However, the moral requirements are based on standards of rationality. In this paper, I will argue that this argument can be apply in real life, based on the morality, Kant’s formula equals the worth and deserving of equal respect and humanity itself.
In morality of life good, bad and behavior are always valued. “Kant’s formula equals the worth,” the philosopher Locke and Aquinas differentiation the political state and argues about agreement and the moral requirements that the equal worth in historical possibility, that sentences, and the linguistics terms they involve, have senses, in addition to referents. Equal worth are treating everyone same, give same respect, value, and attention which can morally bring happiness, because if humans are not giving humans rights then this world will be sad, good will comes from good will people who goes good
…show more content…
Yet in the Evaluation of Pure Reason, Kant also tried to show that every event has a cause. Kant acknowledged that there appears to be a secret nervousness between these two statements: If causal determinism is true then, it seems, we cannot have the kind of freedom that morality assumes, which is “a kind of causality” that “can be active, independently of unknown causes responsible

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    There is an old saying that it is better to be lucky than good. This may be true if a person is always lucky, but luck sometimes has a tendency to run out. Making decisions that affect other people’s lives based on luck can be sometimes dangerous, and usually ethically questionable. Leaders who routinely depend on luck for success may find themselves relying on other questionable actions, such as lying, cheating, or stealing, to ensure luck stays on their side. Additionally, this type of behavior may force subordinates to make ethically questionable decisions when luck begins to run out.…

    • 1512 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Immanuel Kant’s deontological theory of ethics is the normative ethical position that evaluates the morality of actions. Unlike the empiricist supporters of Utilitarianism, Kant was an unquestionable supporter of rationalism; the idea that pure reason can tell us how the world is, independent of experience. This idea is referred to as an a priori approach, because it makes the assumption that reasoning or knowledge is denoted from theoretical deduction rather than from observation or experience.…

    • 2205 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Immanuel Kant’s essays Critique of Pure Reason and Critique of Practical Reason led to his critique Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone.…

    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kant’s formulas are then treated as candidates for a universal moral criterion for the permissibility of maxims, to be tested against our intuitions regarding the best cases that inventive philosophers can devise as apparent counterexamples. If one interpretation of Kant’s formula yields counterintuitive results, then another interpretation is proposed. The fate of Kantian ethics itself, as a moral theory, is then seen as depending on this enterprise of interpretation, and how well our best interpretation of Kant’s principle fares against our intuitions about the most challenging examples against which we can test…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Phil 3033

    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Kant’s moral theory begins from the starting point of the good will. In assessing the moral worth on an action we must focus not on the consequences of results of the action, but on the agent’s will ( the motivation of conducting an action is really important).…

    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This essay aims to argue the views of two different theorist, Jeremy Bentham and Immanuel Kant, with regards to their views on moral worth of an action. The idea of good and bad creates heated debates among many, but this essay will successfully unravel the layers of Bentham’s theory of Utilitarianism and his belief that all our motives are driven by pleasure and pain. While arguing Kant’s opposing argument that moral worth of an act revolves around democratic attitudes, and that moral truths are founded on reasons that is logical to all people. When one breaks down both theories, it occurs that Kant’s theory comes out to be the more sensible one in numerous aspects.…

    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In this essay I will present an argument to show that Kantian Deontology is not a plausible moral theory because the two fundamental principles from Kant’s Categorical Imperatives are unable to account for the permissibility of certain acts that would otherwise be considered immoral. This would discredit the usefulness of Kant’s theory as a moral guideline because individuals would then be able to commit acts - those of which would be considered immoral according to considered moral judgements - and yet not be proven morally wrong because of the lack of accountability that the principles have. In addition, Kant’s theory would no longer have the value of helping us lead a morally good life - even as a form of moral guideline - than the initial…

    • 2494 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kant philosophy has contributed in development of "pure" moral philosophy, a "metaphysics of morals" that is based on the concepts of reason, not on empirical observations. According to his philosophy moral obligations are applicable to all human beings as it applies not only for particular person in particular situation, but also to all rational beings in all circumstances.…

    • 477 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Kant Paper 2

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages

    maxim and why you could not achieve the purpose or end of the maxim in…

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to the nonconsequentialist approach proposed by the German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, an action has moral worth if and if only, it stems from a sense of duty. Kantian ethics do not account for contingencies and possible consequences of actions. Moreover, the moral principles behind the actions must have universal applicability. In other words, it must be binding on all rational beings, irrespective of their personal desires and objectives. Another important dimension of Kant’s ethics disregards the treatment of humanity as a means to an end. Thus, Kant proposes that moral actions involve respecting humanity, both within and outside us (Shaw,…

    • 325 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Immanuel Kant Analysis

    • 472 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Kant believes that a good will is based on the attitude you have towards what you are doing; meaning that doing the right thing based on the fact that it’s the right thing to do is what makes up good will and doing what you think is good doesn’t mean that the act is actually good. This tides over…

    • 472 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Kant's Groundwork

    • 2358 Words
    • 10 Pages

    The categorical imperative describes Kant’s account for morality’s absolute and unconditional commandment, which dictates rational beings’ moral obligations and duties. From the notion and understanding of a ‘good will’, to that of ‘duty,’ springs out Kant’s three propositions that give rise to the categorical imperative’s first formulation. Through these propositions, the first formulation arrives at the fundamental principle of morality and thus the principle upon a good will must act. It can be read as follows: ‘Act only according to that maxim whereby you can the same time, will that it should become a universal law.’ In order to understand how it is that Kant arrived at this first formulation, first, I will present a close examination and definition of concepts such as ‘good will’ and ‘duty,’ and then analyze how these are incorporated in Kant’s three propositions that arrive at the categorical imperative itself through the explanation of his three propositions. Together with this will be certain limitations I have observed upon close examination of the text in this first section of Kant’s Groundwork.…

    • 2358 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Kantian Perspective Kant

    • 1714 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher lived from 1724 to 1804 and during his lifetime created many theories on ethical conduct and human motivation. Unlike consequentialism which believes the morality of actions depend on the best actual or expected results, Kant believes the morality of our actions has nothing to do with the results but has everything to do with our intentions. For Kant, “it has everything to do with our intentions and reasons for action, those that are embedded within the principles we live by” (Shafer-Landau). According to Kant, moral judgment comes from a person’s own reasoning. When we act, whether or not we achieve what we intend with our actions is sometimes beyond our control and the morality…

    • 1714 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Deontology is the ethical view that some actions are morally forbidden or permitted regardless of consequences. One of the most influential deontological philosophers in history is Immanuel Kant who developed the idea of the Categorical Imperative. Kant believed that the only thing of intrinsic moral worth is a good will. Kant says in his work Morality and Rationality "The good will is not good because of what it effects or accomplishes or because of it's adequacy to achieve some proposed end; it is good only because of it's willing, i.e., it is good of itself". A maxim is the generalized rule that characterizes the motives for a person's actions. For Kant, a will that is good is one that is acting by the maxim of doing the right thing because it is right thing to do. The moral worth of an action is determined by whether or not it was acted upon out of respect for the moral law, or the Categorical Imperative. Imperatives in general imply something we ought to do however there is a distinction between categorical imperatives and hypothetical imperatives. Hypothetical imperatives are obligatory so long as we desire X. If we desire X we ought to do Y. However, categorical imperatives are not subject to conditions. The Categorical Imperative is universally binding to all rational creatures because they are rational. Kant proposes three formulations the Categorical Imperative in his Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Moral, the Universal Law formulation, Humanity or End in Itself formulation, and Kingdom of Ends formulation. In this essay, the viablity of the Universal Law formulation is tested by discussing two objections to it, mainly the idea that the moral laws are too absolute and the existence of false positives and false negatives.…

    • 1561 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Morality is described as a conduct created by social groups such as religion or even those created on an individual level to affect one’s behaviour (Gert). This impacts every aspect of our lives. It is important to note that morality was not created by man but by a long term behavioural routine of people which led to the beginning of moral duty which influences the actions of people for the purpose of goodness alone, based on the standard of morality being practised (Shipunova). The standard and understanding of goodness varies from culture to culture and all of these changed with the changing times.…

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays