Kantian Ethics

This test is the... example...

Categorical Imperative. The first test requires that you determine the maxim, or general rule, that your action is in accordance with. What is the principle you act from? If you can consistently act in accordance with the maxim, and at the same time will the maxim to be a universal law for everyone, then the actions have moral worth. Example: You made a promise to a friend to loan him your car. Later, you realize that it will be a serious inconvenience. So, you consider breaking your promise. Your maxim, then, is that you should break a promise when it will be convenient to do so.

Can you consistently do this? Two interpretations:

It is logically impossible to break a promise when convenient, because promises are by definition things you keep even when inconvenient. If everyone broke their promises, then you would never be in a position to benefit from breaking yours. So, universalizing the maxim makes it impossible for you to act on it.

According to Hume...

Morality motivates people to act. Only feelings, desires, and other passions can motivate people to act. So, morality is grounded in desires and feelings.

Duties that Kant derives from Categorical Imperative...

Prohibition against suicide. Perfect Keeping promises and returning borrowed money. Perfect Cultivate one's own talents. Imperfect. Offer help to others when they need it. Imperfect.

it is not that universalizing the maxim will result in bad consequences, but in...

an inconsistency.

Moral worth is not simply what the person does...

but why the person does it. The person who acts from duty does it because it is the right thing to do. The only good thing is a good will. A good will motivates someone to act because it is right. It is this will that is the source of moral worth.

Morality must be a ...

categorical imperative, a command that must be followed no matter what one wants. These can't arise from inclination because it varies from person to person. Instead they come from reason. We are rational, therefore we can know the moral commands. In fact, reason gives us a test.

All humans have a sense of... give an example...

duty. Moral actions are from duty, not just in accordance with duty. The difference between immoral actions and actions in accordance with duty are simply the inclinations one happens to have. Example: the person who gives to charity because it gives her pleasure, and the person who spends everything on himself because it gives him pleasure. Both simply do what gives them pleasure. Do either really deserve moral credit?

Kant rejects

empiricism in ethics.

Kant believed that if Hume were right...

then no action would have moral worth. So, morality cannot be grounded in desires, but must be grounded in reason.

If Hume is right...

there is no moral worth to any action. If actions do have moral worth, then they must be motivated by reason.

The second formulation of the Categorical Imperative is to...

treat others as ends in themselves and not simply as means. That is, treat others as if they have goals and desires of their own, and not simply use them to satisfy your own goals and desires.