Categorical imperative

In chapter one of Kant’s Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant argues that human’s purpose is not happiness, mainly in order to further defend his previous claim that a good will can be considered good without any necessary qualification. Kant agrees with the principle that no instrument for any purpose would be found in a being unless it was the most appropriate instrument for that purpose. This is why he claims that nature would have made a grave mistake if it burdened reason with…

By the third section of the Groundwork, Kant has explained two aspects of the moral law that ground his discussion of freedom and why we must presuppose it’s existence as a property of the will of all rational beings. First, morality functions as a law for humanity only insofar as human beings are rational beings. In other words, the supreme practical principle of morality is a law that is valid for all rational beings, and because human beings are rational, it is a law that is valid for…

paper analyzes three different moral theories: Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative, John Stuart Mill’s utilitarianism, and Kwame Appiah’s cosmopolitanism. After a short description of each theory, the question of whether or not it is morally right to vaccinate children against bad diseases such as measles and mumps is asked of each of them. Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative The distinction between two kinds of imperatives – those that provide instruction for attaining a specific…

should not be sharing patient information with another not approved by the patient. Lawyers should not be discussing their client with others not involved in the case. All three of these examples require confidentiality. I feel that Kant 's Categorical Imperative model of ethical decision making is the best way to approach a communications related ethical problem involving confidentiality. If you use Kant 's model when approached with this ethical dilemma due to self-preservation you would not…

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…

known as Kantian ethics. Kant believed that whether an action was right or wrong did not depend on the consequences, but on whether they fulfilled our duty as rational beings. Kant’s ethics are guided from the philosophical concept that is the Categorical Imperative, a wholly binding rule of morality that is justified as an end in itself. In the spelunker case, Kant would ultimately have the choice of killing the large man to save himself and the life of others, or have all of them perish. The…

motive and a means to the end. “If the action be good only as a means to something else, the imperative is hypothetical; if the action is thought of as good in itself and therefore as necessary for a will which of itself conforms to reason and its principal, then the imperative is categorical…” (Kant, 434). Essentially, what Kant is saying is that if an action is necessary and has good intentions, it is categorical. If the action is only used to get something for oneself and is not necessary,…

“Morality as a System of Hypothetical Imperatives” argues against the claim that moral judgments cannot be hypothetical imperatives, first presented by the philosopher Immanuel Kant. As found in her introduction on page 68-69 of the textbook, her argument is that moral judgments are categorical rather than hypothetical. But before one can explain her argument one must define and explain what hypothetical and categorical imperatives are. Kant himself wrote all imperatives command either…

What Kant is attempting to explain is if all the commonly accepted “good” things like health, wealth and friendship are really good, he asks under what conditions do these qualify as good things. He explains that all good things are not good under all circumstances. Nothing can be called good in this world with out qualification except Good Will which Kant says is the effort of rational beings to do what they ought to do rather then to act in self-interest. To better understand good will, when…

only if it is recognized that the action is a moral duty, not by the inclination, but the obligation of doing the right things. Kant also introduced the deontological concept of hypothetical and categorical imperatives…