Kantian Moral Theory: Categorical Imperatives

Improved Essays
QA: 1
A. Introduction:
Kantian moral theory is one of the most importance and famous theories in our world that people should know about it. From what I had learnt, I got that Kantian moral theory has two important points, which are respecting others1 and having right intentions1 when you communicate with others or do some things. The two things are still working in the present to help to promote the whole society. Kantian moral theory is originated from a philosopher whose name is Kant1. Kantian moral theory has two important Categorical Imperatives2 (2 rules). In the following, I will tell you the first version of the Categorical Imperatives2 with my understanding. Then, I will also give you the detailed explanation about the second version
…show more content…
First, through the universal law2, all the people in the world will have the awareness of making our world more and more peaceful and beautiful. For example, all the people will be glad with the peaceful situation without the war by communicating with each country gently. Second, we will become a good or kind person with the reversibility2. When we want someone to help us, we should consider if we can also help them as the same time, then the relationship between they and us will be better. Third, be nice with the people around you instead of using them3. When you see the people around you on the bus, you can smile with them or say “hi” with them even if you do not know them, you will not only make them happy, but you will also make yourself happy. Last but not least, you should respect others1 with the Kantian moral theory. Everyone is equal to each other in our world, no matter how great, rich, or bad you are, you are equal with the other in the world. Therefore, the rich should respect the poor without laughing at them or looking down upon them.
E. Conclusion
In my opinions, most aspects of Kantian moral theory that I have described above are great, thus, I will do some the Kantian moral theory in my daily life. Kantian moral theory still works nowadays. But according to the different people, different ideas, and different areas, people’s views maybe different on the universal law2. Therefore, from my point of view, the moral theory can change with the different

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Some people may think determining the morality of an action as an easy task, and fail to realize that it is no easy task. Every action is driven by other actions, and depending on the circumstances, an act may be moral in some cases and not in others. This is why Kant favors the Categorical Imperative when compared to other methods of determining morality. The Categorical Imperative does not deal with circumstances, instead it denotes an all-encompassing rule that, if obeyed, means actions would be moral no matter what the situation may be. He first describes the Categorical Imperative when he states, “I should never act except in such a way that I can also will that my maxim should become a universal law” (Kant 14). Using this to determine…

    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This paper will discuss morality and how it applies to solving ethical dilemmas based on four philosophers and their theories from the textbook, “Exploring Ethics”. Philosophers Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, Aristotle, and Virginia Held each have a different approach which I will outline in the next few paragraphs and then provide my opinion on which I find most effective.…

    • 2275 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The categorical imperative has three formulations but only two will be discussed. In the first formulation of the categorical imperative Kant states, “ Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that should become a universal law”(Justice, “The Supreme Principle of Morality”). With this statement maxim means being a principle or a general rule, will means to intend to do something, and universal law states how all people ought to act without any exceptions. Basically do act on things with good intent and not self-interest because then it would not be any moral worth if things were just done for the…

    • 647 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Kantian perspective is a normative ethical theory that focuses on fairness and justice. One of the biggest components of this theory is the principle of universalizability. The principle of universalizability states that, “An act is morally acceptable if, and only if maxim is universalizable” (Shafer-Landau 162). The principle of universalizability means to say that an actions morality depends strongly on its intention. For example, someone cheating off of you on an exam. The person who cheated unjustly broke the rules, and violated our rights. It’s unfair and we feel like we got the short end of the stick. The other main component of the Kantian perspective is the principle of humanity. The principle of humanity states, “Always treat a human being… as an end, and never as a mere means” (Shafer-Landau 174). The principle of humanity defines the moral community in the Kantian perspective as any autonomous and rational being. The Kantian perspective focuses…

    • 1023 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Finally, let us dissect the genius ideology that Sir Immanuel Kant wished everyone would use to have a more perfect system of government in what is now well known as the categorical imperative. Kant attentively elucidates the bases for the structure of metaphysics to morals. He presumed that there had to be a universal proposition that was “purely based on abstraction” that will direct us to the right set of principles we could use at any given time. (Kant,Cahn, 97) Characterizing two forms of imperatives (a mandate to act in a particular fashion), a categorical and hypothetical imperative, Kant has the means to setting up some groundwork of moral behavior we choose to act out on.The first of the two is is the hypothetical imperative that is merely the act of carrying out an…

    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Categorical Imperatives

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Thank you for writing to me about this. I know that you are in a difficult situation in your marriage and that it can be tough to know if an action is morally right. With that said, I cannot advocate your decision to have an affair no matter what the consequences are. My moral beliefs are centered on two rules that help me determine whether a decision is morally good or bad. Your actions are not morally right according to the two rules that I call the categorical imperatives and I would like to explain why.…

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Based on this theory, an action would be deemed moral if the person does the act solely for the sake of doing it; however, Kant believed it was impossible to know if peoples’ actions truly had moral worth because people can appear to act purely out of duty but actually be acting out of self-interest. According to Kant, “since moral laws ought to hold good for every rational creature, we must derive them from the general concept of a rational being” (6). In other words, human beings are rationale creatures and we should protect that ability to be rational. Kant’s deontological theory is based upon categorical imperatives because moral duties according to Kant are not hypothetical. The first of these categorical imperatives states that you should “act only to the maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law” (Kant 12). In other words, before making a moral decision, Kant believes we should ask ourselves, “what if everyone did that?” In this case, maxims are our personal principles that ultimately guide our decisions and could be described as the person’s intention. For example, if everyone were to always lie, then everyone would know they were being constantly deceived. If everyone knew they were being lied to, then we could not be lied to, so therefore, lying cannot become a universal law. Because lying cannot be a universal law, it is not the ethical decision in any…

    • 1650 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This brings Immanuel Kant’s ethical theory of the Categorical Imperative, which is based on three rules. First, someone must refer to a maxim in everything he does and test if this maxim can be a universal law, in a way that everyone else agrees on it. Second, every human being is priceless and has ““value beyond price”, so no human could use another to accomplish a self-interested task.” (Woolsey, 2010). The third golden rule is to treat others as they want to be treated. (Wood, 2007). Focusing on the latest rule, I believe it is very efficient if applied. Because even if one chooses to overlook the first two rules; it will be difficult to come over the third one. Even when the image maker is not making an effort to protect anyone’s feelings,…

    • 274 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    One of the major tenets with this theory is that morality is based strictly on the intentions of an individual rather than on the consequences of an action itself. The problem with this aspect of this theory is that we can have the greatest intentions possible but still have catastrophic consequences. Secondly, Kant argued that for an act to be moral, that it must always be done from duty. The problem here is that if we adhere to the “wrong” moral laws to begin with, then even if we have and engage in perfect duty to those laws, then our actions would also be wrong by default. Then of course, those duties have to universal and without contradiction. The problem is that Kant would argue that moral laws are a priori and cannot change based on circumstance. So how is, then, it that humans, being rational, can also be a part of the creation of those moral laws? Kant’s theory appears to contradict…

    • 1340 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Immanuel Kant is a very famous German philosophers and an opponent of utilitarianism. Categorical Imperatives is an ethical theory developed by him, to use as a guideline for morality. There are three main formulations in this concept, which are the formula of universal, the formula of humanity and the formula of autonomous. In this paper, I am going to use Kant’s ethical theory to find directions about the morality of abortion. Besides that, I will relate the findings of my case study to the flaws of Categorical Imperatives.…

    • 3077 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher remembered for his influence on ethics. Ethics is the philosophical study of moral actions. There are two particular ways of thinking regarding ethics: consequentialism and deontology. Consequentialism divides right and wrong entirely based on the consequences of an action - the end justifies the means. Deontology is the position arguing that consequences do not matter because moral judgement is based on the act alone, not the consequences. Kant was a deontologist and developed an unbreakable moral code that he called the “Categorical Imperative”. Kant characterized the Categorical Imperative as an objective, rationally necessary, and unconditional principle that people must…

    • 1240 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For example, giving money to a homeless person just to get him/her to leave you alone would be judged not moral by Kant because it was done for the wrong reason. With Kants belief in mind; if the consequence of immoral behavior were dealt with in a legal structure, people would be prosecuted for "EVERYTHING" since there are no extenuating circumstances. Kant's categorical imperative is a tri-dynamic statement of philosophical thought:(1) "So act that the maxim of you could always hold at the same time as a principle establishing universal law."(2) "Act so as to treat humanity, whether in your own person in that of another, always as an end and never as a means only.'(3) "Act according to the maxims if a universally legislative member of a merely potential kingdom of ends." In other words, Kant argues that particular action requires conscious thought of the rule governing the action. Whether if everyone should follow that rule, and if the rule is acceptable for universal action, it should be adopted. If the rule is unacceptable, then it should be rejected. In order to understand whether or not an action follows Kant's "categorical imperative," we must prescribe those norms that we wish to be universal…

    • 764 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The major role and function of Kant’s categorical imperative is basically to define a mechanism and an approach through which an individual can judge and determine if his actions are moral or not (Paton, 1948). In applying his categorical imperative, Kant argues that the fundamental of moral actions or acts are that they are applied and used in a universal manner. In today’s rich cultural as well as diverse community, the need for universality has become highly problematic.…

    • 1200 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Categorical Imperative for Kant’s Deontology ethics is all that is imposed, that prevails over the rest because is what we have to do, not what we want to do. The imperative is to stick to the rule when we have to take a position on something. I think that Kant’s Categorical imperative is divided into three parts that form a unity because without one of its parts cannot function or exist as imperative. These three rules are:…

    • 3463 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As a pure deontologist, German philosopher Immanuel Kant was an advocate of the concept that an act may be right or wrong based on the act alone. Consequences of that act do not matter: an act is moral or right if it abides by a rule or a set of rules; otherwise it is immoral or wrong. In Kant’s deontologist ethics, he characterised imperatives—or, in other words, commands—as either hypothetical or categorical. Hypothetical imperatives are commands that are entirely voluntary in regard to a person’s desires. Categorical imperatives, on the other hand, are the complete opposite of hypothetical imperatives in that it is involuntary regardless of a person’s desires. These are rules that a person ought to do and follow. Categorical imperatives, according to Kant, are our moral obligations as human beings capable of rational thought. In the form of formulations, this kind of imperative is the foundation of Kant’s moral theory.…

    • 1125 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays