...The Categorical Imperative Analyzing Immanuel Kant’s Grounding for A Metaphysics of Morals Anders Bordum WP 4/2002 January 2002 MPP Working Paper No. 4/2002 © January 2002 ISBN: 87-91181-06-2 ISSN: 1396-2817 Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy Copenhagen Business School Blaagaardsgade 23B DK-2200 Copenhagen N Denmark Phone: +45 38 15 36 30 Fax: +45 38 15 36 35 E-mail: as.lpf@cbs.dk www.cbs.dk/departments/mpp 2 The Categorical Imperative Analyzing Immanuel Kant's Grounding for a Metaphysics of Morals By Anders Bordum Keywords: Categorical imperative, discourse ethics, duty, ethics, monologic, dialogic, Immanuel Kant, Jürgen Habermas, self-legislation, self-reference. 3 Abstract In this article I first argue that Immanuel Kant’s conception of the categorical imperative is important to his philosophy. I systematically, though indirectly, interconnect the cognitive and moral aspects of his thinking. Second, I present an interpretation of the Kantian ethics, taking as my point of departure, the concept of the categorical imperative. Finally, I show how the categorical imperative is given a dialogical interpretation by Jürgen Habermas in his approach, usually referred to as discourse ethics. I argue that the dialogical approach taken by discourse ethics is more justifiable and therefore more usefuli. I The Synthesis of Rationalism and Empiricism The philosophy of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is in the main inspired...
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...properly designed and therefore ought to be heeded. Kant’s belief of ethics might be seen as an over-arching design and order of nature. The third illustration considers the issue of developing one’s talents. Nature endows us with aptitudes that are intended for a given purpose, which Kant implies, are valid in an appropriate system of nature. Like the antecedent moralists, Kant appeals to the teleology of nature. Initially, in the first section of Groundwork Kant seems to echo Aristotle, but then takes great care to refute Aristotle’s expositions of virtues. As Kant moves to a discussion of the second and fourth illustrations which concern duties to others, his analogy with nature prevails. Kant draws again...
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...Link between Autonomy and Morality in Kant Introduction Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) has set the stage for a German philosophy in the 19th century. He suggested that philosophy is a result of utilising and the appropriate use of human resources, in order to undertake various investigations prior to independent experience. Kant has set a fundamental orientation to the world of philosophy by introducing the moral philosophy. The primary aim of this particular philosophy is to seek out the fundamental principles of metaphysics in the context of morality, which according to Kant, is a system of prioritising moral principles that apply the Categorical Imperative (CI) to human beings in all cultures and time (Kant, 2013). Furthermore,...
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...world-wide funding initiative. Please Read How You Can Help Keep the Encyclopedia Free Author & Citation Info | Friends PDF Preview | InPho Search | PhilPapers Bibliography Kant and Hume on Morality First published Wed Mar 26, 2008; substantive revision Sun Aug 12, 2012 The ethics of Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) is often contrasted with that of David Hume (1711–1776). Hume's method of moral philosophy is experimental and empirical; Kant emphasizes the necessity of grounding morality in a priori principles. Hume says that reason is properly a “slave to the passions,” while Kant bases morality in his conception of a reason that is practical in itself. Hume identifies such feelings as benevolence and generosity as proper moral motivations; Kant sees the motive of duty—a motive that Hume usually views as a second best or fall back motive—as uniquely expressing an agent's commitment to morality and thus as conveying a special moral worth to actions. Although there are many points at which Kant's and Hume's ethics stand in opposition to each other, there are also important connections between the two. Kant shared some important assumptions about morality and motivation with Hume, and had, early in his career, been attracted to and influenced by the sentimentalism of Hume and other British moralists. The aim of this essay is not to compare Hume and Kant on all matters ethical. Instead, we examine...
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...Immanuel Kant was generally regarded as the last major philosopher of the early modern period and one of history's most influential thinkers. His ethical theories were presented in two works. The Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785) was Kant's "search for and establishment of the supreme principle of morality." In The Critique of Practical Reason (1787) Kant attempted to unify his account of practical reason with his work in theCritique of Pure Reason. Kant was the major proponent in history of what is called deontological ethics. Deontology is the study of duty. On Kant's view, the sole feature that gives an action moral worth is not the outcome that is achieved by the action, but the motive that is behind the action. The Categorical Imperative was the name of Kant’s moral law and the famous statement of this duty: "Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." (McCormick, 2006). Kant’s notion on moral judgment i.e. the ability to personally determine the motive behind and outcome of one’s action, made freedom play a significant role in much of his ethical theories. According to Kant what makes human beings different from inanimate things and other lower level living beings is that people have dignity based on their ability to choose freely what they will do with their lives, and they have a fundamental moral right to respect other people’s choices as well. It is a violation of human dignity...
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...Marxism. His ideas play a significant role in both the development of social science and also in the socialist political movement. Marx's theories about society, economics and politics, which are collectively known as Marxism, hold that all society progresses through class struggle. He was heavily critical of the current form of society, capitalism, which he called the "dictatorship of the bourgeoisie", believing it to be run by the wealthy middle and upper classes purely for their own benefit, and predicted that, like previous socioeconomic systems, it would inevitably produce internal tensions which would lead to its self-destruction and replacement by a new system, socialism. Marx polemic with other thinkers often occurred through critique, and thus he has been called "the first great user of critical method in social sciences. Fundamentally, Marx assumed that human history involves transforming human nature, which encompasses both human beings and material objects. Humans recognise that they possess both actual and potential selves. Marx had a special concern with how people relate to that most fundamental resource of all, their own labour power.[120] He wrote extensively about this in terms of the problem of alienation. Refers to the separation of things that naturally belong together, or to put antagonism between things that are properly in harmony. In the concept's most important use, it refers to the social alienation of people from aspects of their "human nature"....
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...“The Final Form of Kant’s Practical Philosophy,” Mark Timmons (ed.) Essays on Kant’s Moral Philosophy (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000). The Final Form of Kant’s Practical Philosophy Allen Wood Yale University By the year 1768, Kant claimed to be at work on a system of ethics, under the title “metaphysics of morals” (Ak 10:74).[1] During the so-called ‘silent decade’ of the 1770s, when Kant was working on the Critique of Pure Reason, he promised repeatedly not only that he would soon finish that work but also that he would soon publish a “metaphysics of morals” (Ak 10:97, 132, 144).[2] Yet it was not until four years after the first Critique that Kant finally wrote a work on ethics, and even then he merely laid the ground for a metaphysics of morals by identifying and establishing the supreme principle on which a system of duties would be based (G 4:392). Three years later, in the Critique of Practical Reason Kant once again dealt entirely with foundational questions in moral philosophy. Kantian ethics is primarily known, especially among English-speaking philosophers, through these two ethical works of the 1780s, neither of which contains anything like a ‘metaphysics of morals’. Many of Kant’s chief works in the early 1790s are devoted to practical philosophy. The Critique of Judgment’s treatment of taste and teleology is concerned both with moral psychology and with the view of the world which a morally disposed person should take. Other works even...
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...3.2 God in the Critique of Pure Reason's Transcendental Dialectic 3.2.1 The Ens Realissimum The Transcendental Dialectic's “Ideal of Reason” contains the best known and most frequently anthologized components of Kant's philosophy of religion. In addition to its portrayal of the ens realissimum, one finds within it Kant's objections to the Ontological, Cosmological and Physico-theological (Design) arguments for God's existence. It is thus the text most central to the negative elements of Kant's philosophy of religion and is integral to the widely held view that Kant is deeply hostile to faith. The general aim of the Transcendental Dialectic is to expose reason's excesses, its drive to move beyond the limits of possible experience, and to bring all concepts into a systematic unity under an “unconditioned condition.” The Transcendental Dialectic begins with a critique of reason's illusions and errors within the sphere of Rational Psychology. It then moves on to a critique of cosmological metaphysics, and then to the “Ideal of Reason” where Kant turns to Rational Theology and its pursuit of religious knowledge. As Kant explains, underlying all the traditional proofs for God's existence is the concept of the ens realissimum, the most real being. Reason comes to the idea of this being through the principle that every individuated object is subject to the “principle of complete determination.” While the generality of concepts allow them to be less than fully determined (e.g...
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...would eventually also lecture most branches of philosophy. Even though he had a growing reputation as an original thinker, he did not gain tenure at the university until 1770. That is when he received his professorship of logic and metaphysics. [1] He continued writing and lecturing at Königsberg for 27 years. He attracted many students there due to his rationalist and hence, unconventional approach to religious texts. This led to political pressure from the government of Prussia, and in 1792, he was barred from teaching or writing on religious subjects by the King of Prussia, Fredrich William II. Frederick William’s most notorious domestic measure was the Religionsedikt (“Religious Edict”) of 1788. It gave legal recognition to the principle of toleration while restricting the freedom of religious instruction and binding the clergy to a narrow Protestantism. [1] Kant obeyed the injunction of the king for five years, the King died after five years. Kant then returned to the...
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...dignity of man’ and sciences reduction of human beings to ‘specks of dust’. His rejection of many Enlightenment philosophies and work to reconcile others resulted in the philosophies that rocketed philosophy far beyond the debate between rationalists and empiricists. I will explore Kant’s views on what knowledge is and what is possible to know, which I will then compare these views to those held by sceptics and dogmatists. Similarly, I will discuss how Kant’s deviating epistemology led to the formation of his categorical imperative and views on morality, contrasting this moral code to the ones of the Hellenistic schools of thought. Lastly, I will deliberate on how Kant’s categorical imperative is nonoperational with the 20th and 21st century’s understanding of psychology and quantum physics. Kant believed that our understanding of the external world was two-part, basing our knowledge not only on our sense-perception experiences but on a priori concepts as well. Kant’s two-part epistemology is not at all similar with the mind-body theories of reality proposed by many enlightenment thinkers. Kant’s epistemology is derived of his criticisms of those he labeled dogmatists and sceptics. Kant’s sceptics, like Hume, thought that there was nothing to...
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...religious sect known as Pietists. His religious upbringing influenced his life and philosophy. 2. Kant entered the University of Königsberg were he studied the classics, physics, and philosophy. a. He was impressed by the advancements in learning made by science, particularly that of Newton. b. The dominant philosophy being taught at the University was Continental Rationalism, particularly that of Leibniz. 3. Kant’s life was remarkably unremarkable. He traveled little, and he had no notable political connections. He was known most for his meticulous, if not eccentric, behavior. Nevertheless, he was also known for being a brilliant thinker, writer, and lecturer. His most important writings include: Critique of Pure Reason, Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics, Principles of Metaphysics and Morals, Metaphysical First Principles of Natural Science, Critique of Practical Reason, Critique of Judgment, Religion within the Limits of Pure Reason, and Perpetual Peace. A. The Shaping of Kant’s Problem 1. The major philosophical systems of his time, Rationalism and Empiricism, seemed to Kant inadequate to explain the two major issues which he articulated in his famous statement: “Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe…the starry heavens above and the moral law within.” a. On the one hand, the heavens as understood by science seemed to be ordered by deterministic laws...
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...in 1754. Kant eventually went on to turn his attention to philosophical issues writing a number of works throughout the 1760’s including: “The False Subtlety of the Four Syllogistic Figures, a work in logic, Attempt to Introduce the Concept of Negative Magnitudes into Philosophy, and The Only Possible Argument in Support of a Demonstration of the Existence of God, Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime and then was second to Moses Mendelssohn in a Berlin Academy prize competition with his Inquiry Concerning the Distinctness of the Principles of Natural Theology and Morality” (“Immanuel Kant.” Wikipedia). In 1781 Kant put out the Critique of Pure Reason which seemed to uncomprehending to many. Therefore, he clarified his main points in Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics That Will Be Able to Come Forward as a Science and soon after he wrote Metaphysics of Morals, Kant's main work on the fundamental principle of morality and the Metaphysical Foundations of Natural...
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...relative ethics 7 Aspect of ethical issues 9 Explain the ethical issues which can affect the operational activities of a business 9 Current ethical issues affecting business 10 Solutions 10 Understand business objectives from an ethical perspective 11 Explain how business objectives are affected by ethical considerations 11 Evaluate the implications for a business and its stakeholders to operate ethically 11 Value of Company 12 Solution in 1.3 effects on the value of Vinaphone: 12 Executive Summary Business ethics is concerned with the result that each decision affects operating-governance impact on others, both inside and outside the enterprise. It is also considering the rights and obligations of each individual, humanistic principles to be followed in the decision making process and the nature of the relationship between man and man. Vinaphone Company Telecom Services is a subsidiary of Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) activities in the field of mobile communication, providing services GSM, 3G, messaging, ... and many other fields. By researching the company, Vinaphone faced with two difficulties with ethics. So here is the task of writing a report on issues for companies to help them better understand the issues they are facing. Background Vinaphone mobile network is a mobile network using modern technology with GSM 100% of Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT). Vinaphone coverage 64/64 provinces and cities in Vietnam and international...
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...US policy by George Bush at the highest levels of government. On September 17, 2001, George Bush signed a secret finding empowering CIA to "Capture, Kill, or Interrogate Al-Queda Leaders." (Lendman, 2008). It also authorized establishing a secret global facilities to detain and interrogate them without guidelines on proper treatment. In the same time, Bush approved a secret "high-value target list" of about two dozen names. He also gave CIA free reign to capture, kill and interrogate terrorists that were not on the list (Lendman, 2008). What is torture: (a) the intentional infliction of extreme physical pain or suffering on some non-consenting, defenseless person; (b) the intentional, substantial curtailment of the exercise of a person's autonomy (achieved by means of (a)); (c) in general, undertaken for the purpose of breaking the victim's will." We will discuss terrorism and torture, look at arguments for and against each practice, and ethically evaluate those arguments (Lendman, 2008).. If pain is meant to break the will of the person, one must ask when we might have an interest in doing so. Certainly violating the freedom through violence is not acceptable for citizens; I may not justifiably torture you to obtain what I want from you, be it your property, your behavior, or your ideological consent (Lendman, 2008). Also, the police may not torture to obtain information, as we have the right to defend ourselves in a court of law, and the courts may not inflict pain as punishment...
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... One needs specific initiation into the classics of transcendental philosophy (Kant’s "Criticism," Descartes’s "Metaphysics," and Fichte’s "Doctrine of Science") because all say farewell to the common sense view of things. The three types of transcendental thinking converge in conceiving rational autonomy as the ultimate ground for justification. Correspondingly, the philosophical pedagogy of all three thinkers is focused on how to seize and make that very autonomy (or active self-determination) intellectually and existentially available. In the concrete way of proceeding, however, the three models diverge. Descartes expects one to become master of oneself and "the world" by methodologically suspending his judgement on what cannot qualify itself to be undoubtable. Kant leads us to the point where we can triangulate universal conditions of the possibility of knowledge through individually acquiring the competence to judge the legitimacy of encountered propositional claims. Finally, Fichte confronts us with the idea of the identity of self-consciousness and objectivity. (1) Transcending ordinary life and experience to a somewhat higher being is surely not the scope of transcendental philosophy. What the revolutionary achievements of Descartes, Kant, and Fichte have generically in common is to account for the legitimacy of our knowledge claims or, in other words, for the possibility of autonomy. The business of that kind of philosophy is to rationally reconstruct the rightness...
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