Categorical imperative

Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative “Act only on the maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law” (Groundwork,222) was said by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant. Born in 1724, Kant published his first major work late in his life, at the age of fifty-seven. His major works include: Critique of Pure Reason was a critique of David Hume’s problem regarding human knowledge, Groundwork on the Metaphysic of Morals regarding his core principles of morality,…

The categorical imperative, to Immanuel Kant, is an overarching principle of acting towards others the way you would like for them to treat everybody else; a slight furtherance of the ‘Golden Rule’(Where your actions are based upon the way you would like them to treat you). The categorical imperative creates a moral basis based upon one’s understanding of their own individuality coupled with an empathetic understanding of those around them, based upon their precepts that they’ve come to…

The Categorical Imperative is the fundamental idea illustrated in the deontological moral philosophy of German philosopher, Immanuel Kant. Kant, often viewed as one of the most important figures in modern philosophy, attempted to discover how humans can be good and moral outside the traditional, religious framework. It was Kant’s desire to replace religious authority with the authority of reason and human intelligence. The idea for which he is most famous, the Categorical Imperative, is…

should be their decision that is the final say. In this case if a woman wants to get an abortion then it is her decision and that does not involve anyone else since it’s her body. Kant’s definition of a person, act utilitarianism, and Kant’s Categorical Imperative defends a women’s right to an abortion if she chooses. Abortion is defined as “the intentional termination of a pregnancy that destroys…

justification was the categorical imperative. An imperative is considered to have two option; hypothetical or categorical. Kant speculation was if the action is good only as a means to something else, then the imperative is hypothetical; if it was considered as good in itself and resulting as being the principle of a will which of itself conforms to reason, then it is categorical (Guthrie, S., 2001). His thoughts concluded that in order for an act to be categorically imperative, it must be…

discusses the idea of an imperative as it relates to moral decision making, specifically how a person will decide the right course of action in any given situation. Kant defines imperative as a demand or command of reason action. When we have a goal in mind, the imperative is the reasonable course of action that we feel we must take. Kant then distinguishes between two types of imperatives. First, he discusses hypothetical imperatives. A hypothetical imperative is one an imperative where you…

Therefore, you should seek psychiatric help. While this seems perfectly valid, suppose we replace the first premise with a hypothetical imperative: If you want to torture children, you should volunteer as a babysitter. You want to torture children. Therefore, you should volunteer as a babysitter. Thus, when we affirm the first premise as a hypothetical imperative, we mean it in a sense that does not validate such an…

duties and laws upon themselves, which are derived from the categorical imperative. According to Kant: “There is, therefore, only one categorical imperative. It is: Act only accruing to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law” (Korsgaard 314). For Kant, the categorical imperative serves as a decision procedure to determine if one’s action is morally right. To use the categorical imperative, one must first identify the maxim of one’s action. Second,…

everyone else to pursue. In this paper, we will focus on Kant’s concept of a free will, and the inferences he makes in order to prove his conclusion that free will is equivalent to following moral laws as long as the moral laws don’t violate the categorical imperative. In addition, after explaining Kant’s argument, we will try to argue against Kant’s concept of free will. In the third section of Kant’s Groundwork, he inquires his readers by asking the following question,”…

Kantian ethics, the moral philosophy established by Immanual Kant in his work Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals, is centered around the idea of the “categorical imperative”, the principle that certain actions are strictly prohibited, despite the potential for the prohibited action to bring about more good than the alternative. Kant believed that since humans have the ability to reason, they must use their rationale to determine what these unwavering truths, or moral duties, are…