PHIL 230 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Hypothetical Imperative, Immanuel Kant, Purea
10 Mar 2016
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*when citing kant use the prussian academy (ak. ) pagination (square brackets) Immanuel kant: 18th century enlightenment; born in prussia, writes in german. Foremost proponent of deontological (duty-based) ethics; right/duty>good. A small part of a larger philosophical project (sets stage for metaphysics of morals) Metaphysics: about a priori principles rather than a posterior (empirical) A priori principles: justification/empirical confirmation not needed; pure. Establishment of the supreme principle of morality. Similarities to mill: same task: isolate fundamental principle of morality; already implicit. Defender of ordinary morality (in kagan"s terms) Emphasis on basing moral philosophy on a pure/a priori foundations only. Moral law is discovered by pure reason; this is why it is authoritative. This law must be equally accessible to/valid for all rational agents. Transcendent of the nature of the moral law. If any claim (no lying) is to have the kind of necessity required of the moral law, it must be universally binding on all rational beings.
