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Kantian Ethics summary for A-Level Ethics
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Kantian EthicsMoral Law Binding moral obligations
Maxims Another word for moral laws, determined by reason
Duty Our obligation to follow moral law
Summum Bonum Highest, supreme good
Good Will A person of good will makes decisions according to moral law
Categorical Moral obligation that is always binding
Imperative
Hypothetical Moral obligation that only applies if one desired the implied goal
Imperative
Kingdom of Ends An imagined future in which all people act in accordance of moral law
Kant thought that morality was framed by concepts and categories. He believed that moral
knowledge is known through reason rather than emotion. It is a priori – relying on
experience. It is not hypothetical or based on a particular goal, instead, it is based on moral
law, which is always binding. For Kant, morals are universal maxims – fixed rules that
always apply.
For Kant, good people follow moral law, they do so because they have good will and do their
duty. Even if we do the right thing, bad things can happen to us, but in the ultimate end,
beyond this world, only good things will happen.
Kant is a deontological thinker – the rightness is based on the actions themselves. Argues
that morals are universal, and are not related to emotions, situations, or revelation. Moral
rules should apply to everyone.
Kant thought that if we based our morality on pleasure, then we would be a slave to our
animal instincts, and will ultimately act in our own self-interest, like animals. However, we
have the ability to reason which sets us apart from animals. Therefore, we are precious and
are free to pursue the summum bonum – the supreme good, where we do good things and
happiness comes to us all. When we act, we must think of how our actions affect others; we
cannot use humans.
The moral law, duty and good will
Objective moral law is absolute and must be obeyed, irrespective of the consequences.
Origins of the concept of duty (acting morally according to the good regardless of
consequences) in deontological and absolutist approaches to ethics.
Kant rejected the idea of happiness or contentment as the basis of morality. He believed that
human beings cannot fulfil their lives by concentrating on happiness; morality is more
important than the selfish desire for personal happiness.
An action is only good, Kant maintained, when a person acts from a sense of good will. For
example, in the case of a young man helping an old man across the road – the action is only
good if the young man has chosen to act out of a sense of good will towards another human
being.
When you do your duty, you must have good will too. Your intentions must be pure. Giving to
charity but only doing it because you want a good reputation is still good but you don’t get
any credit from doing so. Whereas, if you donated without thinking anything of it; because
you were simply doing your duty, then you get the credit. Similarly, doing an action out of
loyalty or guilt is seen as worthless to Kant. He thinks we should be sympathetic to others
but we should not let this drive our moral decisions.
, The only acceptable reason for putting good will into action, Kant maintained, was a sense of
duty.
Good will + duty = moral action
Kant was searching for an objective definition of morality that could be applied in all
situations, which meant the reasons for any action must be coldly rational and free from
emotion. A person acting from a sense of duty is clearly not being forced to. Indeed, Kant
said ‘duty involves freely choosing the action’ as anything else would invalidate it.
Kant establishes some specific duties to ourselves and others:
1. To strive for perfection.
2. To pursue the greater good, not one’s happiness.
3. To not destroy ourselves (suicide - this would end our ability to act freely in the future
and our existence, but we could sacrifice ourselves in battle, for instance, if it were to
protect someone).
4. To not destroy or limit others.
5. To be truthful.
6. To avoid drunkenness and gluttony (drunkenness would affect our ability to act freely
and both would affect our health and therefore, our existence in the future).
7. To have the right to private property/ownership (we cannot own other people, but we
can enter consensual contracts such as marriage).
Kant concludes that the state is necessary to make sure these rights are protected.
Hypothetical and categorical imperatives
Kant thought we could separate knowledge into two groups. Knowledge we gain from our
senses and the empirical world around us is a posteriori (“post” - after experience). A priori
(“prior” - before experience) is independent of any experience, such as maths.
Moral knowledge is a priori for Kant as it comes from within and does not need any prior
experiences.
An analytical judgement is a judgement of clarification, such as: “all bachelors are
unmarried”.
A synthetic judgement is a judgement of amplification, because when it is true, it adds new
information to the subject, such as: “the table in the kitchen is round”. (not all tables are
round).
Analytical judgements are a priori because we do not need knowledge or experience to
know that they are true – a bachelor cannot be married. Synthetic judgements are a
posteriori because it is not necessarily true, so we need to check it out for ourselves.
Looking at someone does doesn’t tell us whether what they are doing is right or wrong.
Wrongness cannot be seen in someone shouting but we know that it is wrong because we
know that being aggressive towards someone is wrong, which is why Kant thinks that moral
propositions are synthetics – they bring extra information from outside the experience. This
additional information is the moral law that reason reveals; you have to look what people
ought to do, not just what they actually do.
Hypothetical imperative
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