PHI-303: Ethical Theory
PHI-303: Ethical Theory
Peter Cheyne prc
Kant’s Deontological Ethics Why be good? “You must because you can!”
• pure study of Ethics – not a natural or empirical science
– practical (about action) reason
– worked out by reason (excludes experience & inclinations)
– moral logic
• search for absolute duties/principles
• abstraction from experience alone cannot give duties/moral principles
– as Hume argued, ought (moral duty) cannot be derived from is (empirical facts)
• moral rules come from reason
– they apply to every rational being, not only humans
– morality is not a chance/accident of human nature
– universal
• laws govern/rule nature (natural process)
– rational beings can accept ideas of laws (principles) as their laws/commands (rational practice) free choice to obey/disobey
– therefore they have a will = practical (moral) reason
– reason deduces (works out) actions (what ought to be done) from moral principles
• reason commands the will (command ––> imperative, strict instruction)
– 2 ways:
– a) hypothetical (relative) imperative = means-end reasoning
- if you want A, then do B (if you want stay dry, use umbrella)
– b) categorical (absolute) imperative (no exceptions)
- you must/must not do A (you must not steal/lie/kill)
– hypothetical imperatives have no direct value of their own – value = relative to some result wanted
– all moral duties follow from this
• perfect & imperfect duties
– perfect duties = we must constantly obey (e.g. truth-telling; not killing) self-defeating (contradictory) if universalized
– imperfect duties = we cannot always do these – never completed
- admirable, but not required not be done constantly (e.g. give to charity; improve your talents); not self-defeating (contradictory) if universalized
• perfect duty & contradiction
– e.g. killing self-defeating if universalized; this includes suicide; self-love is a perfect duty needed to be moral; value life = perfect duty
– false promises self-defeating – need to borrow money, falsely promise can repay soon – if universal, borrowing impossible; truth telling = perfect duty
– not improving your talents – talents = socially useful, but maybe person wants a quiet life of pleasure/comfort. It is not contradictory to not improve talents, so it is an imperfect duty. Also, self-improvement cannot be done constantly.
– General rule, person = end not means; kingdom of ends, not reciprocal social contract
• Choosing to disobey these rules contradicts the categorical imperative
– thieves will not want everyone to steal; liars will not want everyone to lie; killers cannot want everyone to kill
• Categorical imperative = act so that you will your action to be a universal rule
• All morals rules can be deduced from the categorical imperative
– categorical imperative = broader form of the Golden Rule
• duties deduced by reason for all rational beings; not from human sciences like biology, psychology, anthropology, history
– any human study that observes rules from experience can only give hypothetical imperatives, not categorical ones universal for all possible thinking beings
• duty commands despite inclinations; a study of human pleasure, satisfaction, and inclinations cannot deduce universal moral rules
• power & dignity of moral law is seen well when our feelings oppose it. We are not forced by authority, or lead by pleasure, but compelled by reason
• In a world where moral law was a universal instinct, so we had no choice, there would be no good people and no ethical qualities. Choosing to obey moral law distinguishes people as moral beings
-----------------------
[pic]
................
................
In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.
To fulfill the demand for quickly locating and searching documents.
It is intelligent file search solution for home and business.
Related searches
- ethical theory and business pdf
- ethical theory types
- ethical theory list
- ethical theory examples
- ethical theory examples in healthcare
- kant s ethical theory essay outline
- 303 vs 30 06
- ethical theory and moral practice
- ethical theory and moral practice journal
- lee enfield 303 for sale
- ethical theory definition
- british 303 enfield rifle markings