PHIL250 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Categorical Imperative, Deontological Ethics, Practical Reason
5 Jan 2016
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We can have respect only if we place the moral law above ourselves because it can command us. The pure form of lawfulness itself is the categorical imperative. Socrates claims that we are ignorant of the highest things. He says its better to be in harmony with yourself and out of harmony with the world than vice versa. We should be consistent with ourselves; if we contradict ourselves, we must be doing something wrong. Kant says we have moral experience, the basic principle of morality is not something i made up, its been there just like infants have the principle of causality already. You already know some things are morally wrong. There may not be duty or a good will. If the universal law was that you can lie if it satisfies your inclinations, then its a contradiction because you have destroyed the possibility of telling the truth.
