Philosophy 1300E Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Deontological Ethics, Consequentialism, Practical Reason
1 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Kant
Thursday, March 15, 2018
7:09 PM
What is Ethics?
• Character, habit
• No rules
• Dependent on period
• Focus on context
• We don’t talk about pleasure in the definition of happiness
• The aim is the development of character, so that we get happiness
• Two importance's of pleasure:
1. Pleasure has a very important role in the development of good character
• We use pleasure and pain to teach kids good character
2. Criterion for good actions
Utilitarian Ethics
• Comes from the word utility = usefulness
• The aim is utility and the greatest amount of pleasure aka happiness for the greatest number of
people
• The only good is pleasure
• Hedonists
• This theory holds that pleasure and happiness have intrinsic value. They are what we all want and
are the ultimate goals that all our actions aim at. Something is good if it promotes happiness, and
it is bad if it produces suffering.
• They will evaluate action on the basis of consequences and only that basis
• They are consequentialists
Kant (Deontological Ethics)
• According to him the aim is duty towards human beings, rational human beings
• Context doesn’t matter here
• Kant had no time for utilitarianism.
• He thought that in placing the emphasis on happiness it completely misunderstood the nature of
morality.
• In his view, the basis for our sense of what is good or bad, right or wrong, is our awareness that
human beings are free, rational agents who should be given the respect appropriate to such
beings.
• When we do moral actions, there is not the slightest trace of pleasure
• We go to the intentions to determine whether or not something is good
• The basic problem with utilitarianism, in Kant’s view, is that it judges actions by their
consequences. If your action makes people happy, it’s good; if it does the reverse, it’s bad.
• Old distinction of philosophy fields and how Kant develops them
1. Logic
i. Deals only with the laws of reason
2. Physics
i. Pure/metaphysics
o Possible as a science
