Immanuel Kant Principle Of Morality

In Immanuel Kant’s Grounding for Metaphysics of Morals, he develops what he believes to be the principle of morality. Kant claims that morality is based on reasoning. Thus he claims morality can be seen through the reasoning of an imperative. An imperative is a command. Kant states that an imperative is any proposition declaring a necessary action and inaction; they tell us what to do. He then separates between two imperatives, which he refers to as hypothetical and categorical imperatives to reach what he believes to be morality. Kant claims hypothetical imperatives apply to individuals who possess a desire or wishes to achieve a certain goal through actions or inactions. He believes morality isn’t like this; there is no desire or motive. He uses hypothetical imperatives to contrast between categorical imperatives, what he believes morality to be. Categorical imperatives tell us what to do regardless of our desires. Kant believes morality is based on duty and duty is reasoning without a motive, obligation or desire.
Kant believes that humans can only decide what is moral through reasoning. …show more content…
In other words doing your duty without regard for a desire, goal, or motive. Kant believed that by doing your duty you are functioning morally. Morality, under Kant’s interpretation must be applicable to everyone at all times, places, and societies and cannot be hypothetical. A categorical imperative is based on priori knowledge; independent of sense experience, where reason is used to determine what is and isn’t universally accepted as moral. Categorical imperatives are not personal or vary from one person to another. They become universal because doing your duty is independent from goals, motives, and desires which make imperatives conditional. Ultimately, Kant accepts categorical imperatives as absolute and unconditional; it is simply a duty that all must follow and is universally