PHL 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: John Stuart Mill, Hypothetical Imperative, Categorical Imperative

• School: Tunxis Community College
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHL 111
• Professor: Minor

Document Summary

Duty: we can only have respect the law if its demands are pure, universal and necessary. Hypothetical imperatives: hypothetical imperative: prescribes a rule of action according to the means necessary for achieving an end. Formula of humanity: a hypothetical imperative acts according to subjective ends that only have instrumental value=> these are called things. A thing is a means to an end: a categorical imperative is conceived according to an objective end, the rational agent capable of making the imperative has intrinsic value=> these are called persons. A person is an end in itself: formula of humanity: Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of another, always at the same time as an end and never simply as a means. What is utility: utility=> pleasure itself, together with the exemption of pain . Higher and lower pleasure: hedonist ?=> no.