Kantianism

“The distinction of right or wrong,” “The extent to which an action is right or wrong,” Morality is universally defined within the range of deciphering what is good and what is evil. It is essentially the fundamentals of human acts and acts of man, an absolute, unchanging, moral basis that must be not and cannot be contingent on the human being. Morality remains to be true in itself. With what has been established above, the objectivity of morality is built upon. To question, to ask, a human…

There are many formalistic expressions in the critique of practical reason, the most formalistic emptiness debate is around Kant’s interpretation of law-giving force of the moral law that must stem from its mere form, if its universalizability stemmed from the content, the law could only hold for that content and not universally. For example, ‘for which the mere lawgiving form of a maxim can alone serve as a law is a free will’, the law giving form of a maxim is ‘the only thing that can…

Duty But what does it mean for a will to be good? This is where the concept of duty comes in. Kant says that a person’s will is only good if it is motivated by duty and nothing else. If an advertiser communicates in his advertisement that cleaning hands is essential to staying healthy because it is his duty and right thing to do, then his act can be considered ethical. But, if he intends to encourage the habit of cleaning, thereby increasing the market size and in the process the sale of his…

For Kant, the goodness of an action is not determined by the consequences or outcomes of an action. Kant has decided that the intention that one possesses behind their action is how we measure whether the action is bad or good. Kant has determined that in order to intend a good action a rational agent must possess the good will to do the action. This is a measure of whether you are dealing with an individual that possess good morals within themselves. Kant has gone on to say that possessing good…

mmanuil Kant is one of the most famous figure in the whole history of philosophy. His works inspired many generations of thinkers, some argued for, some against, but always with Kant’s philosophy in their mind. Huge influence of Kant is linked to careful and deliberate analysis of the subjects he explored. Subjects, that are so important in life of every individual, such as moral and ethics. “Grounding for the Metaphysics of Moral” gives perfect insight on Kant’s philosophy. The main goal of…

In this essay I will discuss what autonomy means for Kant. I will also talk about its relevance for agency, personhood and responsibility. Firstly, I will give a brief explanation of responsibility, personhood and agency. Secondly, I will then discuss the relevance autonomy holds for agency, and responsibility as already stated. Autonomy is seen as having control over our actions and the ability of self-governance. Reason alone verifies the dimensions to know what morality requires of us, and…

My purpose in this essay is to explain and evaluate the first formulation of the Categorical Imperative. According to this formulation, whenever someone considers performing an action, it must be something that they would will or accept that all others do. While this formulation does have its advantages, such as that it provides justice for everyone, overall, I do not find this formulation plausible. Since every situation is different, it makes it hard to have universal rules. The Categorical…

What is Right? What defines a morally right action? How can we as people distinguish what actions to take in different situations? Kantianism and Utilitarianism both offer frameworks to determine morally right action, however these moral theories function differently. Utilitarianism offers the Greatest Happiness Principle as a framework for moral decision making. Thus Utilitarianism deems an action can be deemed morally right when it can be said both that the action provides the greatest…

To say that Immanuel Kant 's work was influential would be an understatement. His work marked a paradigm shift in western philosophy with his infamous Copernican revolution. Both the analytic and continental traditions can be said to be a response to Kant 's ideas. Still today, Neo-Kantian thinking is still being applied to contemporary thinking today. However, Kant 's work is remembered more for its impact on philosophical thinking, rather than its modern applicability. In both traditions, Kant…

Kantianism or deontology is based on the idea of good will, which is necessary in conceiving all the good in the world. Kant focuses on the nature of an action that makes it right and wrong rather than judging it by its consequences. It encourages actions having moral values that reflect good intentions and purpose. These actions can only have moral values if they proceed from a pure motive of moral duty comprising act of reason. Hence actions are considered virtuous if they tend to justify in…