3.4: Grounding Moral Action in Rational Principles: Immanuel Kant
Watch this lecture until 28:25. This lecture introduces a third major approach to morality: Immanuel Kant's deontological, or duty-based, ethics. In contrast to the utilitarians, Kant holds that an action's consequences are not what make it right or wrong, but rather the principle on which the action was based. Kant's view is similar to Locke's in that he ascribes fundamental rights to persons, but what really sets Kant apart is his insistence that even if we do the right thing, we still have not acted morally unless we have also done it for the right reason.
3.4.1: Overview of Kant's Moral Theory
Watch this lecture from 21:17. The lecture introduces Kant's moral theory and his conception of duty, maxims of action, and categorical imperatives. Kant holds that actions should be guided by principles.
3.4.2: Kant's Motive of Duty
Read the Preface and First Section of Kant's 1785 text about morality. Attempt to answer the following questions in your own words:
- What does Kant say is the only thing good without qualification?
- What types of actions does Kant reject as examples of pure duty?
- What are the three propositions of morality?
What Kant argues here is that the only absolutely good thing in the world is good will, or the human desire to act morally, and that this desire is only possible for us because we are rational beings. According to Kant, we have an absolute duty to act on the basis of the moral principles that are the result of our own rationality. This is, in fact, what separates us from the animals, and it is why Kant so opposes the utilitarian view, which seems to make human beings into the slaves of their desires for pleasure and to avoid pain.
- What does Kant say is the only thing good without qualification?
3.4.3: How a Kantian Decides on the Right Thing to
Watch this lecture from 28:26 to the end. Pay attention to the distinction Sandel draws between hypothetical and categorical imperatives, since this is what sets Kant apart from the utilitarians. Sandel helpfully breaks down some of the complexity of Kant's moral philosophy by illustrating the major contrasts that Kant uses to develop it. Although he gives three different versions of it, Kant thinks of his categorical imperative as a singular rational principle for deciding how to act. As long as we follow the categorical imperative, we are acting out of duty, and we are respecting ourselves and others as rational beings.
Watch this lecture from 28:26 to the end. Pay attention to the distinction Sandel draws between hypothetical and categorical imperatives, since this is what sets Kant apart from the utilitarians. Sandel helpfully breaks down some of the complexity of Kant's moral philosophy by illustrating the major contrasts that Kant uses to develop it. Although he gives three different versions of it, Kant thinks of his categorical imperative as a singular rational principle for deciding how to act. As long as we follow the categorical imperative, we are acting out of duty, and we are respecting ourselves and others as rational beings.