Kant's Categorical Imperative Examples
1. “The imperative thus says which action possible by me would be good, and represents the practical rule in relation to a will that does not at once do an action just because it is good, party because the subject does not always know that it is good, party because, even if he knew this, his maxims could still be opposed to the objective principles of practical reason” (4:414). Kant’s categorical imperative states that our actions should be in accord with universal good and not driven by any personal motive or desire. Such an imperative is driven by the idea that intention is the main driving force behind the morality of an action and is all that matters. The outcome has no bearing on the good of an action since the basis of the action can
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“And this categorical imperatives are possible, because of the idea of freedom makes me a member of an intelligible world, in which virtue of which, if I were alone, all my actions would always conform with the autonomy of the will, but as at the same time I intuit myself as a member of the world of sense, they ought to conform with it… (4:454). Kant explains how freedom is a moral necessity since our actions must come from our own free will without external forces persuading the action. All human beings have the ability through free will to make decisions that are moral in both their intent and outcome. “All human beings think of themselves as having a will that is free. From this stem all judgments about actions such that they ought to have been done even if they were not done” (4:455). An action cannot be deemed good without freedom. Freedom is a requirement for good will because our actions are deliberated through reason. “But the legitimate claim even of common human reason to freedom of the will is founded on the consciousness and the granted presupposition of the independence of reason from merely subjectively determining causes, which together one and all constitute what merely belongs to sensation, and hence under the general label of sensibility” (4:457). Kant explains that since we have free will, through of general sensibility, we are able to utilize practical reason to make decisions in accord with goodwill. This freedom is therefore self legislated towards a universal law that constituted the good will we are all meant to abide
“And this categorical imperatives are possible, because of the idea of freedom makes me a member of an intelligible world, in which virtue of which, if I were alone, all my actions would always conform with the autonomy of the will, but as at the same time I intuit myself as a member of the world of sense, they ought to conform with it… (4:454). Kant explains how freedom is a moral necessity since our actions must come from our own free will without external forces persuading the action. All human beings have the ability through free will to make decisions that are moral in both their intent and outcome. “All human beings think of themselves as having a will that is free. From this stem all judgments about actions such that they ought to have been done even if they were not done” (4:455). An action cannot be deemed good without freedom. Freedom is a requirement for good will because our actions are deliberated through reason. “But the legitimate claim even of common human reason to freedom of the will is founded on the consciousness and the granted presupposition of the independence of reason from merely subjectively determining causes, which together one and all constitute what merely belongs to sensation, and hence under the general label of sensibility” (4:457). Kant explains that since we have free will, through of general sensibility, we are able to utilize practical reason to make decisions in accord with goodwill. This freedom is therefore self legislated towards a universal law that constituted the good will we are all meant to abide