Hypothetical imperative

of good will, and only categorical imperatives, which are actions that are done just for the sake of being done, and therefore considered as a priori since it is a means and an end, are truly pure. This is agreeable, however, it must be noted that hypothetical imperatives can also have good will (i.e. lying in order to protect someone’s feelings), yet at the same time, categorical imperatives would be more reliable. He gives four examples of categorical imperatives. Adherence to the first…

Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals attempts to construct a moral philosophical system built upon reason and rationality. In this paper I will explain how Kant frames this rational morality, what he means by the invocation of the categorical imperative, duty, and the moral law (note that henceforth all important conceptual terms will be capitalized for clarity). I intend to make the case that Kant’s moral philosophy, while not without flaws, largely succeeds in making a rational…

Deontology and Consequentialism explaining further the morality of this issue closing with Kantianism that fully supports this argument. To begin, the Ends-in-Themselves and Universal Law imperatives of Deontology, when applied, go hand-in-hand and are almost self-explanatory. First, The Ends-in-Themselves imperative can be understood by imagining a human being used as a subject of experimental drug testing, then imagining that the human is being used as a means to an end. The physician’s end is…

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. Chapter 1 Background 1.1…

The categorical imperatives are imperatives that must be followed unconditionally and follow three formulations The first is that the imperative must be universal, in that it is an imperative that everyone can and must follow, such as the illegality of murder. The illegality of murder is a categorical imperative because if everyone committed murder, then there would be humans to live on this Earth. The second formulation…

Immanuel Kant is remembered as the eighteenth century German philosopher who founded critical philosophy. He defined categorical imperative as the absolute or unconditional law that applies to all agents, the claim that does not depend on ulterior motives. The categorical imperative is not a command on people on what they should do or not. Kant formulated it to provide a way in which people would be able to evaluate their actions, measuring their morality and ethics. It is a procedure which any…

Categorical Imperative. Walter Glannon argues four reasons as to why gene enhancement is “morally permissible if it is intended to ensure or restore normal functions, but is morally illegitimate if it is aimed at enhancing functions beyond normal.” However, gene enhancement is a simply one form of genetic alternation.…

Mussaya Thanthima PHL-210-01 10-13-17 Immanuel Kant’s theory of the categorical imperative states that those duties are moral if they are universally applicable. This duty that does not contain a motive or goal from which one could either benefit or not.It is good because it is universally applicable. According to Kant this duty consist in just doing the right thing simply because it is right. An example of such a duty, is when you see a boy scout helping an elderly person across…

Ursula Le Guin illustrates a hypothetical city where the happiness of an entire society depends on the eternal agony of one child. In her narration of The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, she begins by describing the gathering of city people to a festival. The author maintains a rather vague depiction of the authenticity of the city, claiming that the details of their relation of technology, drugs, or sex for example to ours are simply irrelevant. The main importance that Ursula Le Guin stresses…

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…