Philosophy 2700F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Immanuel Kant, Ethics, The Possession
17 May 2018
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Week 7: February 27th, Tuesday
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
- Conservative moralist
- Wrote the book Groundwork, in order to discuss the principle of morality
- He believed that most people knew right from wrong instinctively; but humans were weak to
the inclinations and temptations of desire, etc.
*I fully agree!
The purpose of the Groundwork:
- To loate the supee piiple of oalit :;
This is important for a variety of reasons, including:
- Fo a, affeted so a iliatios, is ideed capable of grasping the idea of a pure
practical reason, but it is not so easy for him to render this idea concretely effective in his
odut of life :;
Kant assumes that most people know what they are required to do – Most odia hua intelligence
a easil e ought to a high degee of oetess ad opleteess i oal attes :; .
We have the power to act morally; we fail because we are weak. Kant also things that recognizing the
supreme principle will arouse in us, a motivation to act in accordance with it. He believes that humans
have a natural obligatory feeling to be morally correct. Unlike other animals, humans can distinguish
between want/need and rationally correct actions – we can step back from our desires and decide
hethe it is ight o og to pusue that desie. This i Kats ees, is hat akes huas fee
Moral philosophy involves working out the laws of freedom. These are the laws for a being that has the
capacity to act against inclinations, because morality requires it. We are free beings – as such, we can be
held responsible for our actions. In order to find what law bind humans to morality, it must be
investigated what kind of will we have.
It is ipossile to iagie athig at all i this orld, or even beyond it, that could be taken to be
good without qualification – eept a good ill :;
- This good will is itisiall good, ad it is ot depedet o a othe otet
- Kant does a poor job of telling us what the good will consists in
o It is a kind of (controllable) power that we can summon
o It is something like a good manner, which is a predisposition to act from duty and to be
always sensitive to moral considerations
It has three features:
1. Its goodness is unlimited or unconditioned
o Good in all possible worlds
o It is never conditioned or limited by another good
o He also opaes it ith gifts of atue, hih do deped o othe goods liited:
talents of the mind, qualities of temperament, gifts of fortune, prized traits, etc.
o Wh ae the gifts of atue liited, ad h is good ill uliited?
- Without piiples of a good ill, those ualities a eoe eeedigl ad
:; . The a… e eteel eil ad haful if the ill that is to ake
use of them, is not good
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Document Summary
Wrote the book groundwork, in order to discuss the principle of morality. He believed that most people knew right from wrong instinctively; but humans were weak to the inclinations and temptations of desire, etc. To lo(cid:272)ate the (cid:862)sup(cid:396)e(cid:373)e p(cid:396)i(cid:374)(cid:272)iple of (cid:373)o(cid:396)alit(cid:455)(cid:863) (cid:894)(cid:1008):(cid:1007)(cid:1013)(cid:1006); (cid:1005)(cid:1013)(cid:1007)(cid:895) Kant assumes that most people know what they are required to do (cid:862)most o(cid:396)di(cid:374)a(cid:396)(cid:455) hu(cid:373)a(cid:374) intelligence (cid:272)a(cid:374) easil(cid:455) (cid:271)e (cid:271)(cid:396)ought to a high deg(cid:396)ee of (cid:272)o(cid:396)(cid:396)e(cid:272)t(cid:374)ess a(cid:374)d (cid:272)o(cid:373)plete(cid:374)ess i(cid:374) (cid:373)o(cid:396)al (cid:373)atte(cid:396)s(cid:863) (cid:894)(cid:1008):(cid:1007)(cid:1013)(cid:1005); (cid:1005)(cid:1013)(cid:1007)(cid:895). We have the power to act morally; we fail because we are weak. Kant also things that recognizing the supreme principle will arouse in us, a motivation to act in accordance with it. He believes that humans have a natural obligatory feeling to be morally correct. Moral philosophy involves working out the laws of freedom. These are the laws for a being that has the capacity to act against inclinations, because morality requires it.
