What is the categorical imperative, and is it moral? In The Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Ethics, Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative is the belief that in order to reach a morally just conclusion one must act only on that maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will that it should become a universal law. In other words an action should only be reasoned to be right if it would be acceptable by society for everyone to do it. This leads me to believe that:
The categorical imperative is moral:
(1) When abiding by the categorical imperative, you use reason and rationality.
(2) If you use reason and rationality, then you are moral.
(3) Therefor the categorical imperative is moral.
Although the categorical imperative is not …show more content…
Some individuals use and manipulate the categorical imperative as a means to justify the choice they already know they want to make. An example of this would be a man that morally donates his time to a homeless shelter because he truly wants to make a difference, and a man that donates his time to a homeless shelter saying he wants to make a difference, but in reality he is only fulfilling a required number of community service hours for a program. While some actions may appear completely moral, other actions can come off as completely self-serving. Nonetheless, we must keep in mind that every action we see can be credited to some reason other than morality. The categorical imperative is simply a standard to help us better evaluate what ought to be done in moral dilemmas. Although Kant tries to make the categorical imperative seem like a nicely packaged set of rules, we must be mindful when observing these rules, as they are merely guidelines. As our book Fundamentals of Philosophy points out, our moral decisions rarely come to us in neat and tidy choices between obvious good and obvious evil. As the old proverb says, choices are about saying no to one thing so you can say yes to
The categorical imperative is moral:
(1) When abiding by the categorical imperative, you use reason and rationality.
(2) If you use reason and rationality, then you are moral.
(3) Therefor the categorical imperative is moral.
Although the categorical imperative is not …show more content…
Some individuals use and manipulate the categorical imperative as a means to justify the choice they already know they want to make. An example of this would be a man that morally donates his time to a homeless shelter because he truly wants to make a difference, and a man that donates his time to a homeless shelter saying he wants to make a difference, but in reality he is only fulfilling a required number of community service hours for a program. While some actions may appear completely moral, other actions can come off as completely self-serving. Nonetheless, we must keep in mind that every action we see can be credited to some reason other than morality. The categorical imperative is simply a standard to help us better evaluate what ought to be done in moral dilemmas. Although Kant tries to make the categorical imperative seem like a nicely packaged set of rules, we must be mindful when observing these rules, as they are merely guidelines. As our book Fundamentals of Philosophy points out, our moral decisions rarely come to us in neat and tidy choices between obvious good and obvious evil. As the old proverb says, choices are about saying no to one thing so you can say yes to