Analysis Of The Categorical Imperative

Reduce morality to a usable system. If you lived in line with the categorical imperative you are moral. There is only one imperative which is act in accordance with the thing you want to become a universal law. Some have boiled this idea down into saying it simply is the golden rule, do to others what you would have them do to you. This is certainly an over simplification of Kant 's thought but I do believe it captures the essence of it and it makes it much easier to understand. Once the categorical Imperative is understood by a person they are then under obligation to follow it. Once you know it 's wrong to murder another, you are under obligation to refrain from murdering others. Must follow regardless of our desire. This is found from pure reason. Right and wrong is knowable by reason alone. The Categorical Imperative is the central theoretical concept of Immanuel Kant. It is a method of appraising the …show more content…
This is "a logical question that forces us to confront whether the act would lead to a self-contradiction." Kant says that we simply can 't excuse our own behavior when it contradicts the universal. Because the universal ethical idea is true under any circumstance it is considered categorical. It is a command or an imperative once we realize that the particular ethical issue is true. We must do it.
To follow Kant 's philosophy at all times, in all situations, is not actually something that works universally. If lying is always wrong in all situations, then when the Nazi 's came to the house of a German family that was hiding Jews and they asked if they had any Jews inside, following Kant 's philosophy, they would have to answer, yes. Because to lie would go against the categorical imperative. In this view there is no exceptions to the rule. The idea that the saving of life doesn 't supersede the law of not