Learning Outcomes - Kant
Students will be able to |
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- Explain and provide examples of Kantian Respect
- Define and understand the term "Autonomous
Being"
- Provide examples of situations violating people's autonomy
- Discuss lying from a Kantian perspective
- Define and understand deontology & deontologist
- List some of our basic duties
- To list and explain the three abstract duties that underlie
others
- Define and understands the categorical imperative
- Know and understand Kant's definition of duty
- Critique Kant's moral philosophy
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Immanuel Kant
1724-1804 |
Biographical Trivia
- Born in 1724 to deeply religious, lower middle class
family
- "He had neither a life nor a story" (Paul A.
Schons)
- Always respected religion & preserved Christian
belief
- Abandoned "puritanical pietism" of his family
- Famous for his routines. People could set clock by his
walk.
- "Philosopher's Walk" was named after Kant's
3:30 walks
- Missed his walk upon reading Rousseau's book, Emile
- Never married (obvious by is picture???)
- Never ventured more that 40 miles from Konisberg
- 1789 French Revolution
- In 1793 was forbidden to lecture by his church
- Lectured at university math, geography, philosophy
- In 1795 wrote "Perpetual Peace"
advocating for a "League of Nations."
- On his gravestone in 1804:"Two things fill my mind
with ever-increasing wonder and awe:...the starry heavens
above and the moral law within me."
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| Timeline |
Kant 1724-1804
Bentham
1748-1832
Mill
1806-1872
French Rev.
1789 |
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What does it mean to treat people with "Kantian Respect"?
Treating people well is more than saying "sir." It is more
than being superficially polite.
It is treating
them as ends, as a "Kingdom of Ends."
People should never be stepped on, depersonalized or used as a means
to an end.
It means not stiffing the
babysitter, not looking down on any individual, seeking the best in each
person, always having the time for please, thank you and a smile.
In terms
of medical ethics, it means not experimenting on an individual without his
consent. We realize other people are autonomous (free agents that
have the capability to decide how to act).
Kant wants us to treat others
as we would want to be treated, while recognizing the autonomy of the
other.
What is an autonomous being?
An autonomous being is one endowed with self-governance,
self-determination, a rational intellect and free will, a being deserving
of respect. He is a being capable of determining his course in
life. (From the Greek "self" and "law.")
Autonomy. The ability to freely determine one’s own course in
life. Etymologically, it goes back to the Greek words for "self"
and "law."
For Kant, it means the rational ability to give the
moral law to oneself.
How have people failed to respect the other's autonomy?
Any type of coercion violates the other's autonomy.
Forcing someone to be a part of a medical experiment, extortion, armed robbery, slavery, murder, as well as
the less obvious, lying.
What would Kant say about lying?
That lying is a form of coercion - lying to borrow money & manipulate
people to act in a way they wouldn't if the whole truth were known.
Kant is one of the few ethicists that considers lying to always be
wrong. I will elaborate on this a little further down.
What is Kant very famous for?
The categorical imperative: "Act only according to that
maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a
universal law." (What's good for you is good for everyone; no
exceptions) What's good for the goose is good for the gander
The imperative is a categorical command: A command without any conditions or
qualifications whatsoever attached to it
Imperative: a command. Our human intellect is designed by
nature to give universal laws.
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Kant wanted to establish an ethical norm based on reason that all could
follow (regardless of their "religion"; therefore, it would be enduring, perennial and universal.
Kant was tired of the appeal to subjective emotion. Kant sought the
science of right and wrong in human action.
Kant is the
quintessential deontologist.
What is a deontologist? ( From the Greek deon = duty )
Any position in ethics which claims that the rightness or wrongness of
an act depends on whether or not it corresponds to duty. Actions are
based on universal principles.
Deontology emphasizes one's duty to do a particular action
because the action itself in inherently right - not due to any methodical
calculations about the consequences.
Deontology has a nonconsequentialist bent - meaning the moral command
does not justify itself by calculating its consequences.
Duty "Duty is the necessity of an action executed from
respect for [moral] law" (Kant).
Kant is saying an act is correct if it conforms to duty. When one is
doing/following one's duty, he is acting morally or "rightly."
Man has a duty to be honest, to keep promises, to be fair, to refrain from
hurting others. We also have duties to ourselves, such as self-respect,
self-mastery, and the care of one's body.
"For Kant, the only appropriate action for moral action is duty.
In acting from duty, I act according to reason, whatever my
feelings or desires happen to be" (Wall 45)
What three abstract duties underlie all others?
(Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals by Kant)
- Act so as to respect persons
"Act so that you treat humanity , whether in your own person or
in that of another, always as an end and never as a means only."
- Act on universal principles
"Act only according to that maxim by which you can
at the same time will that it should become a universal law."
- Act autonomously.
"Act only so that the will through its maxims could regard
itself at the same time as universally
lawgiving." (Martin 64) (in other words, acting
with free will)
Critique
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Critique:
Kantian Theories
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On the
positive side:
- His lasting
contribution to philosophy is his emphasis on respect (achtung)
- His emphasis on the
necesity of acting, even when no one does not feel like it
- The universality of
morality - that we are all subject to it regardless of our
status, no exceptions
- Dignity of each human act & each person
- Situation isn't the sole factor
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On the
negative side
Hinman invites us to consider three questions:
1.
Can reason provide us with adequate guidelines about how we
should act?
2.
Can reason provide us with adequate
motivation to do the right thing?
3.
Can a moral system be complete without references to
consequences?
Concerns with Kant's system per Liptak:
1.
Kant wanted an objective norm and got a subjective norm, as
Kantian ethics is rooted in the individual. Morality depends
on each person's moral vision. Law is equated with the
lawgiver.
2.
Kantian ethics stands in contradiction to ethical systems
that believe in the effects of original sin (Romans 7:15 "I
cannot eve understand my own actions. I do not do what I want."
Kant assumes ( like some early philosophers) that correct ethical
action is appealing to everyone. Is this in harmony with the general
psychological condition of all mankind? Does man seek the
immediate good (chocolate cake) or the long-term good?
3.
Moral visions grow each year. is one's early moral vision adequate?
Wall's concern of shallowness:
Goal of virtue ethics: "To show us how to be happy, how to live
good lives, lives of 'human flourishing.'" Contrast this
to goal theories of obligation (Kant): "To teach us how to
determine the difference between right and wrong. It achieves
this goal by identifying rules and principles that we are obliged to
follow, even if we do not want to" (Wall, Thinking
Critically 46)
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END OF LECTURE+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Elaboration on 3 abstract duties that underlie
others
(l) Respecting persons
Treating people as ends, not as means, is respecting people.
We enter into the kingdom of ends or "realm of ends."
Actions should be evaluated according to whether or not they show
respect to persons. It is not stiffing waiter. Treating people with
respect also demands (as stated in our text) that we do not coerce others,
that is lie to others. Lying implies deceiving and
manipulating people & using them as objects, and distorting their
intellect. although we may need day care providers, and babysitters, we do
not use them.
"Act in such a way that you always treat humanity whether in
your own person or in the person of any other never simply as a means, but
always as an end." Kant
(2) Universal Principles
Universal means world-wide, universe-wide, applying to all humans and
existing divine beings. (Kant believed in God, but felt that even God
Himself was subject to the commands of reason.)
When deciding whether to cut across a recently-seeded lawn or private
property, for example you would say, "What would it be like if
everybody cut and trespassed?" Or if you are deciding whether to i.e,
can you imagine everyone operating on the principle, "Lie when it's
convenient, suiting your selfish needs."
He believed all questions of morality could be answered by referring to
his Categorical Imperative (his supreme principle of morality). The categorical imperative is a command that depends only on moral
grounds.
The categorical imperative: "Act only according to that
maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a
universal law."
Categorical command: A command without any conditions or
qualifications whatsoever attached to it
Imperative: a command
The imperative implies universality, logical consistency, impersonal
principles , rational foundation, good for all, including God.
One cannot create exceptions for self.
(It is distinct from a hypothetical imperative)
What are the formal criteria for the categorical imperative?
impersonality, universality, impartiality, certainty, objectivity,
reversibility, unconditionality, logical consistency, bindingness
(3) Act Autonomously
Acting autonomously means acting with free will.
To act morally means to act freely in the moral ballpark.
A duck cannot act autonomously, as it does not have a rational free
will. It is not self-determining.
Kant's morality entails both personal and social dimensions.
In fact a prior condition of our duty to others is first our duty to
ourselves. We cannot achieve the former without the latter. (Kant
uses drunkards as examples.) The duty to respect others also entails the
duty to respect ourselves and our autonomy.
Acting from the sense of duty from one's good will is what makes an act
morally right and morally good (regardless of the consequences).
Moral character is determined by one's strength to follow duty even
when one does not feel like it.
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Censorship of Kant
"Although Kant was known to be in sympathy with the French
Revolution he was not regarded as a direct threat to the state. His works
were seen, however, to be too radical for the Christianity of the times.
In 1793 Kant was forbidden to lecture or write on any topic involving
religion." Paul
A. Schons
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Questions for discussion
How can having a hair stylist cut one's hair be seen in terms of using
a person as a mean and as treating one as an end.
What does it mean to have a climate of respect in the classroom?
Describe the Kantian classroom.
Kant: "Duty is the necessity of an action executed from respect
for [moral law." Foundations of Metaphysics
"Suicide is not an abomination because God has forbidden it; it is
forbidden by God because it is abominable." Kant
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