Immanuel Kant Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals

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Immanuel KantGroundwork for the Metaphysics of
Morals

• Duty is the necessity of an action done out of
  respect for the law.
• (Humanities 4)

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Immanuel Kant

• 1724-1804
• What is enlightenment?
• Sapere aude
• Critique of Pure Reason, Critique of Practical
  Reason, Critique of Judgment, Metaphysics of
  Morals
• Ethics epistemology

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A Good Will

• There is no possibility of thinking of anything
  at all in the world , or even out of it, which
  can be regarded as good without qualification,
  except a good will. (393)
• Some things (intelligence, strength, etc.) seem
  good, but are only good if animated by a good
  will
• Some things (moderation, self-control) seem good,
  but are not good without qualifications, but
  only because they are conducive to the
  development of a good will, or because they
  facilitate its work (394)
• A good will is good not because of what it
  effects or accomplishes, nor because of its
  fitness to attain some proposed end it is good
  only through its willing, i.e., it is good in
  itself. (394)
• The good will is good even if, through inability,
  failure, or mischance it accomplishes nothing
  material
• Acts done without a good will may be desirable or
  pleasant, but they cannot be recognized as moral.

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Reason Happiness

• But it seems awfully strange to say that the only
  moral good is in the good will, separate from any
  consequence, let alone that we have reason to
  develop good wills. After all, isnt reason
  meant to make us happy? Lets think this
  through. (395)
• Take any organism
• Now, take it as given that no organ in that
  organism will be found unless its the best for
  accomplishing whatever end its meant to do
• Humans have the faculty of reason
• How does reason do at making us happy?
• Not so great. In fact, we find that the more a
  cultivated reason devotes itself to the aim of
  enjoying life and happiness, the further does man
  get away from true contentment.
• In fact, if being happy were what being human is
  about, wed have been much better off being
  guided by instinct instead of reason! (395-396)

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Reason Happiness

• Due to this, many persons (by which I mean
  Rousseau) come to hate reason, and think that
  even science just gives us more ways to be
  unhappy and more needs unmet! So, some people
  come to envy, rather than despise, the more
  common run of men who are closer to the guidance
  of mere natural instinct and who do not allow
  their reason much influence on their conduct.
• And look, some people have a point reason
  isnt going to lead us to happiness. But this
  doesnt mean reasons bad, it just mean that
  happiness isnt what reason is for.
• Reason is for something much more important, and
  more human its true function must be to
  produce a will which is not merely good as a
  means to some further end, but is good in itself.
  To produce a will good in itself reason was
  absolutely necessary, inasmuch as nature in
  distributing her capacities has everywhere gone
  to work in a purposive manner. (396)

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But what is the will that is good in itself?

• It has to do with duty. Doing something solely
  from duty is the only morally commendable thing.
• Okay, whats duty?
• Heres what its not
• 1. Obviously, its not doing anything contrary to
  duty.
• Security guards obviously dont have a duty to
  steal from their employers.
• 2. Its also not when you do something that IS
  your duty, and you do it, but not because you
  really want to, but because its in your
  long-term self-interest.
• Like when a shopkeeper charges everyone the same
  price. Its not because hes committed to
  fairness or anything like that, its because he
  doesnt want to get a reputation as a cheat.
• Even if he IS committed to fairness, this
  incentive remains, so charging a fair price isnt
  morally commendable (397)

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But what is the will that is good in itself?

• Duty is also not
• 3. When you do something that is in line with
  your duty, but you have no inclination not to do
  it. This isnt moral, its just that your
  desires and morality happened to line up.
• You love desire your wife, so you dont cheat.
  Youre really happy, so you dont kill yourself.
  You love your kid, so you feed her. What do you
  want, a parade? (397)
• Duty IS
• 4. When you dont want to do something, and you
  have no incentive to do it, but you do it anyway
  because its right.
• Youre terribly unhappy, with no prospect of
  improvement, but you dont kill yourself because
  that would be wrong. Youve fallen out of love
  with your husband, but you still contribute to
  the household and treat him well, because you
  should. THIS has moral worth. (398)

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Duty

• Suppose theres a man who loves humanity and
  cant stand to see anyone suffer, so he goes
  around helping people.
• Now suppose theres somebody who has no feeling
  whatsoever about other people, and seeing them
  suffer doesnt bother her at all, but she still
  helps people because she knows its the right
  thing to do.
• Shes the moral person here. She is benificent,
  not from inclination, but from duty. (398)
• Its like when Jesus says to love your enemies.
  He cant mean you should feel love for them, only
  that you should act as if you do. Its
  practical, not pathological love. (pathos)
  (399)
• It would be unreasonable to demand pathological
  love.

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Duty

• 1. To have moral worth, an action must be done
  out of duty.
• 2. That actions worth is not determined by its
  result, but the maxim that decides it.
• Maxim subjective principle of will that
  motivates an action
• 3. Duty is the necessity of an action done out
  of respect for the law.
• Law An objective principle that could serve all
  individuals subjectively, as maxims, if reason
  were to master desire perfectly
• Respect for the law to the extent that it
  overwhelms and forces from consideration the
  desires and inclinations of the individual. An
  action of real moral worth must be undertaken
  purely out of this respect, excluding every
  desire and motive other than respect for law.
  (399-401)

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Reason Morality

• But! We can never be sure of our motives. Even
  when we think were acting out of pure duty, its
  not possible to know the deepest motives for our
  actions.
• And its the motive, not the outcome, that
  matters!
• In this way, we cant derive moral principles
  from examples
• Lots of apparently moral acts were in fact done
  out of emotion, not duty, and thus have no moral
  worth. They may be beneficial, but they arent
  moral. (407-409)

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Reason Morality

• Only reason, not history, can guide us in
  determining what morality is
• We must even judge Jesus by our
  rationally-determined standards before we praise
  him
• Reason leads us from popular philosophy to
  philosophical judgment to metaphysics, the laws
  of morality
• Everything in nature works according to laws.
  Only a rational being has the power to act
  according to his conception of laws, i.e.,
  according to principles, and thereby he has a
  will. (409-412)
• The proper and inestimable worth of an
  absolutely good will consists precisely in the
  fact that the principle of action is free of all
  influences from contingent grounds, which only
  experience can furnish. (426)
• Reason exists a priori, apart from experience and
  from history
• True virtue is stripped of sensuality, reward,
  and self-love (fn. 19)

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The Imperative

• When an objective principle necessitates the
  compliance of will, it is a command (of
  reason). The expression of the command is an
  imperative.
• All imperatives are expressed by an ought,
  because it indicates the relationship between an
  objective law of reason and a subjective will.
• All imperatives are either hypothetical or
  categorical
• Hypothetical a means to an end
• If you want to get a date, you should probably
  put on a clean shirt. No, not that one.
• While all humans want to be happy, happiness
  looks different for everyone, so every imperative
  about it is hypothetical.
• Categorical The action is objectively necessary
  in itself, not because of another end. (413-415)

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The Categorical Imperative

• Morality is a categorical imperative
• It is not concerned with the outcome of the
  action, but with its form and motive
• Morality belongs to free conduct as such, i.e.,
  to morals (416)
• What kind of law can guide the will perfectly,
  without any regard for outcome, that we could
  call absolutely good?

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The Categorical Imperative

• There is only one categorical imperative and it
  is this Act only according to that maxim whereby
  you can at the same time will that it should
  become a universal law. (421)
• This is for Kant what real morality looks like
• The abstracting away of the individual
• This categorical imperative is the source of all
  the imperatives of duty. This universal
  imperative of duty may also be expressed
• Act as if the maxim of your action were to
  become through your will a universal law of
  nature. (421)
• Autonomy vs. heteronomy
• auto nomos

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The Categorical Imperative

• If you find yourself transgressing duty, behaving
  immorally, youll find that either you do not
  want the maxim of your will to become a universal
  law.
• We make an exception for ourselves to serve our
  inclination
• Seen from the standpoint of reason, you are
  allowing inclination to trump your rational
  will(424)
• The categorical imperative applies to all people
  at all times (425)

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Examples

• Im in trouble, and the only way out of it is to
  make a promise that I have no intention of
  keeping.
• This seems to be in accord with prudence, but
  does it accord with duty?
• If I made my maxim (lie when convenient) a
  universal law, no one could trust anyone, and
  thus my lie would be ineffective. Seeing this, I
  must reject my maxim and tell the truth.
  (402-403)
• What if everyone acted like that?

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Examples

• A man is very unhappy, sees no prospect for
  improvement, and his natural self-love leads him
  to want to kill himself.
• But can it be made a universal law that one ought
  to kill oneself out of self-love? This is absurd,
  and so his duty is to endure.
• Another man has a talent that would make him
  socially useful, but would like to be lazy and
  not develop it.
• But what would become of the world if everyone do
  this? Clearly, duty requires that he develop his
  ability.

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Examples

• Yet another man is doing very well, but sees
  others suffer. May he say, I got mine! Youre
  not my problem. I wont hurt you, but I wont
  help?
• On the one hand, maybe the world would be better
  off if we minded out own business this way. Could
  it be a universal law?
• No, because times will inevitably arise when he
  needs help. If his maxim was made law, he would
  deprive himself of necessary assistance. (423)

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Ends and Means

• All humans have reason, and thus have wills
• Thus, they must each be regarded as an end in
  themselves, not only as means to be used for this
  or that will.
• If one regards another, or the self, as a means,
  one ought not do so without regarding them as an
  end in themselves (428)
• Animals have only conditioned ends. They cannot
  will a thing for its own sake. Thus, they do not
  have reason, and thus do not have wills.
• Thus, they have only relative value as means, and
  can be thought of as things.
• Rational beings, having wills, are not only
  subjective ends
• They have a value that is not reliant on our
  actions or value to us
• They are ends in themselves, and there exists no
  end for which they should be treated solely as
  means (428-429)

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The Practical Imperative

• Rational nature exists as an end in itself
• All individuals ought think of their existence,
  treating it as an end in itself
• Act in such a way that you treat humanity,
  whether in your own person or in the person of
  another, always at the same time as an end and
  never simply as a means. (429)

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Examples

• Im in trouble, and the only way out of it is to
  make a promise that I have no intention of
  keeping.
• By deceiving the other individual, I treat him as
  a means to my own happiness
• A man is very unhappy, sees no prospect for
  improvement, and his natural self-love leads him
  to want to kill himself.
• This would be treating himself only as a means to
  a tolerable existence. But a man is not a thing
  to be used!

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Examples

• Another man has a talent that would make him
  socially useful, but would like to be lazy and
  not develop it.
• Inherent in humans are perfectible capacities.
  To neglect them is not consistent with regarding
  humans as as ends. To improve them is to be an
  end, to be fully human.
• Reason
• Yet another man is doing very well, but sees
  others suffer. May he say, I got mine! Youre
  not my problem. I wont hurt you, but I wont
  help?
• To help them is to recognize them as ends in
  themselves (430-431)

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Autonomy

• All practical laws are grounded in universality
• All beings are ends in themselves
• The practical imperative is thus the supreme
  condition of the wills conformity with universal
  practical reason, viz., the idea of the will of
  every rational being as a will that legislates
  universal law.
• The will is thus not merely subject to the law
  but is subject to the law in such a way that it
  must be regarded also as legislating for itself
  and only on this account as being subject to the
  law (of which it can regard itself as the
  author. (431)

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Autonomy

• All other ways of thinking behaving are
  heteronomy
• Being ruled directly by others
• Regarded by others purely as a means
• Having my will and behavior conditioned by my
  inclinations, and thus the practical necessities
  of serving them (433)

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The Kingdom of Ends

• Kingdom
• A systematic union of different rational beings
  through common laws
• A society which recognizes each individual as an
  end
• Treating themselves and all others as ends in
  themselves, their autonomous, rational laws would
  be identical
• Every individual a legislator
• In the kingdom of ends everything has either a
  price or a dignity. Whatever has a price can be
  replaced by something else as its equivalent on
  the other hand, whatever is above all price, and
  therefore admits of no equivalent, has a
  dignity. (433-434)