Sydney Richter (1)

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Philosophy

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Jan 9, 2024

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Sydney Richter Dr. Kunecka Philosophy 205 - Ethics November 22, 2023 2. According to Kant, it is always irrational to act immorally. What reasons does he give for thinking this? Do you agree with him? Immanuel Kant's immortality theory differs from those of other 18th-century philosophers. Kant's beliefs stemmed from deontological ethics but soon became known as "Kantian ethics" because of its uniqueness and opposition to utilitarianism. Kantian ethics are primarily based on the idea that the results or benefits of one's actions are essential, but the intentions behind them, regardless of the result. An essential aspect of Kantian ethics is that "Kant thought that every action has a maxim" (Shafer-Landau, 171). Kant's moral theory heavily relies on a maxim through the concept of the categorical imperative. Additionally, Kant uses the idea of a maxim to illustrate and evaluate the moral permissibility of actions through The Principle of Universalizability. The Principle of Universalizability focuses on Kant's belief that the purpose rather than the outcome solely determines the morality of our actions. This makes it true that if two actions produced the same result, it is possible that one action was immoral because the maxim did not have the right intention, making the ultimate principle of morality the intention rather than the result. The Principle of Universalizability is focused on the idea that you should act only according to maxims that you can imagine everyone adopting without leading to logical contradictions. It is morally impermissible if an action cannot be universalized without contradiction. A maxim plays a crucial role in explaining and applying his moral theory through the concept of the categorical imperative. Kant uses the idea of a maxim to evaluate the moral permissibility of actions through the Principle of Universalizability to determine the morality of an action. Kant suggested universalizing the maxim where one imagines a world in which everyone follows the same principle. Prompting the question, would it be sustainable? The question of sustainability is further explored in some of Kant's more specific ideas and examples that I believe would be beneficial to mention. This explores his idea that it is always irrational to act immorally and to help us determine whether or not a maxim is Universalizable. Kant's belief in lying is a pretty significant one. He suggests the case of the “...inquiring murderer...” (Shafer-Landau, 179). This case puts you in a situation where you are hiding someone that the murderer intends to kill. The murderer asks you if you know the whereabouts of the victim. Do you lie and say you do not know, or do you give up the victim knowing what will happen? According to Kant, lying is never permissible, despite the positivity or negativity of any result, because it is still flat-out lying, which is not moral, making any result irrational. This leaves Kant wanting people to expose the victim, but that means they get killed, which, to me, is more of an immoral decision than telling one lie because you are essentially allowing for murder, contradicting Kant's theory.

I do not agree with Kant’s theory that it is always irrational to act immorally. Morality has been debated to rely not on rationality but on goodness, and that is where I lean further. If I were asked to hide a potential victim of a murderer, I would not give up on the victim when asked because I believe that my lying to the murderer is less immoral than subjecting the victim to be murdered. I believe that you can be irrational and moral and vice versa.

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