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

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