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DEONTOLOGY A. What is Deontology? 1. Deontological approaches in ethics usually contrasted with teleological approaches. 2. A teleological theory is goal oriented: - a morally right act is one that brings about goodness - egoism: a right act brings about good for the self-utilitarianism: right act brings about overall good 3.
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- Deontology
- The First Formulation of The Categorical Imperative
- Problems with The First Formulation
- Good Will
- The Second Formulation of The Categorical Imperative
- Problems with The Second Formulation
- The Third Formulation of The Categorical Imperative
- Conclusion
- References
One of the distinctive features of Kant’s ethics is that it focuses on duties, defined by right and wrong. Right and wrong (which are the primary deontic categories, along with obligatory, optional, supererogatory, and others) are distinct from good and bad (which are value categories) in that they directly prescribe actions: right actions are ones...
The underlying idea behind the first formulation of the categorical imperative is that moral rules are supposed to be universal laws. If we think of comparable laws, such as scientific laws like the law of gravitational attraction or Newton’s three laws of motion, they are universal and apply to all people equally, no matter who they are or what th...
One criticism that Kant faced among his contemporaries was for his stance on lying, since he said that we always have a duty to be truthful to others (Metaphysics of Morals 8:426). His reasoning seems to be that if we were to try to universalize a maxim that permits lying, such as “I will lie whenever it’s convenient to get what I want,” then peopl...
For Kant, just doing the right thing is not sufficient for making an action have full moral worth. It’s also necessary to act with good will, by which Kant means something like the inclination to do good or what is also known as a good character. He believes that a good will is essential for morality. This is intuitively plausible because it seems ...
The idea underlying the second formulation is that all humans are intrinsically valuable. As Kant writes, “What has a price can be replaced by something else as its equivalent; what on the other hand is raised above all price and therefore admits of no equivalent has a dignity” (Groundwork 4.434). What has a price is a thing, but a person has digni...
One of the main problems with the second formulation of the categorical imperative is that it’s somewhat vague. There are clear-cut cases of using people as mere means, such as slaveholders exploiting their slaves, but what about something more ambiguous like an employer underpaying his employees? The employer is advancing the employees’ ends by pa...
Kant gives a third formulation of the categorical imperative based on the notion of a kingdom of ends. By kingdom, Kant explains, “I understand a systematic union of various rational beings through common laws” (Groundwork4:433). By a kingdom of ends we’re to imagine an interconnected world of rational beings where everyone is treated as an end and...
Despite many of the criticisms to which Kant’s ethics has been subject, it remains one of the most influential ethical theories in contemporary Western ethics. Many thinkers agree with its emphasis on ethics being fundamentally rational and being justifiable through reason. The first and second formulations of the categorical imperative also do hav...
Alighieri, Dante. (1320) 1995. The Divine Comedy, trans. Allen Mandelbaum. London: Everyman’s Library. https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/ Aquinas, Thomas. 1920. The Summa Theologiæ, 2nd ed., trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province. http://www.newadvent.org/summa/ Augustine. (426) 1887. The City of God, trans. Marcus Dod...
Nov 21, 2007 · 2.4 Deontological Theories and Kant. If any philosopher is regarded as central to deontological moral theories, it is surely Immanuel Kant. Indeed, each of the branches of deontological ethics—the agent-centered, the patient-centered, and the contractualist—can lay claim to being Kantian.
Kant’s Deontological Ethics Five Questions (and answers) (1) What is morally good without qualification? (2) What does it mean to have a good will? (3) What does it mean to act from duty? (4) What is the law according to which I am to act? (5) And why should I act from respect for this law? (Why is it so binding on me?) How we value X:
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) is one of the most important figures in modern philosophy. The first philosopher to advance a deontological approach, he has influenced contemporary philosophy significantly in areas such as aesthetics, political philosophy, and ethics.
Immanuel Kant. In the selection from Kantʼs book, The Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, which we read for today, Kant begins with this claim: The question which Kant then tries to answer is: what is it for a will to be good?
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Feb 23, 2004 · Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) argued that the supreme principle of morality is a principle of practical rationality that he dubbed the “Categorical Imperative” (CI). Kant characterized the CI as an objective, rationally necessary and unconditional principle that we must follow despite any natural desires we may have to the contrary.
