Examples Of Immanuel Kant's Categorical Imperative

The court should take a look at what the partners said like, “she was sometimes overly aggressive” (Nkomo, Fottler, McAfee, 7 edition, p. 57). The judge should rule in favor of Thelma Jones because she is being sexually discriminated. The employer did in fact discriminate unlawfully because you’re not allowed to tell a woman to be more “femininely” just to get a higher position.

Immanuel Kant explains different concepts in Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals; one includes “The Categorical Imperative” that I agree with. Kant states “I ought never to act except in such a way that I can also will that my maxim should become a universal law” (Kant, 113), which describes Categorical Imperative. The reason a person acts should be based on reason and if it were something they wanted to become universalized or not.

We cannot say as a matter of law that Ellison 's reaction was idiosyncratic or hyper-sensitive. We believe that a reasonable woman could have had a similar reaction. After receiving the first bizarre note from Gray, a person she barely knew, Ellison asked a co-worker to tell Gray to leave her alone. Despite her request, Gray sent her a long, passionate, disturbing letter. He told her he had been "watching" and "experiencing" her; he made repeated references to sex; he said he would write again. Ellison had no way of knowing what Gray would do next. A reasonable woman could consider Gray 's conduct, as alleged by Ellison, sufficiently severe and pervasive to alter a condition of employment and create an abusive working environment (Ellison v. Brady, 1991).

In Kant’s Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant discusses morality to revolve around imperatives that remain true and applicable to all situations. Categorical imperatives are rules that must be followed regardless of one’s personal desires which may exemplify greed, power, money. Kant recognizes that these “abilities and traits can become extremely evil and destructive if the will behind these gifts of nature and the character they produce is not good” (13). Kant’s moral principles are based on a priori concepts that are based on reasoning and investigations. A priori reasoning encourages people to act out of duty with the reasoning that people do actions that reflect those duties.

Kant’s categorical imperative, also describes that it mandates an action, irrespective of one’s personal desires which is contrasted with Valentina’s case as she is expected to maintain professionalism within and outside the orchestra to uphold TSO’s morals and values. Although Valentina clearly has the desire to perform for the orchestra, she has the moral obligation to censor her comments to keep her offensiveness to a minimal as Melanson revealed, “the decision was made because of the offensive nature of the comments and not because they were critical of the Ukrainian government” (Censorship in Canada, 2015).

Categorical imperative is a nonconsequentialist theory formulated by the deontological German philosopher Immanuel Kant. Kantian ethics were a clearly opposition to the theory of the utilitarianism proposed by Mill; to Kant, the consequences were irrelevant to moral evaluations. Unlike Mill, Kant believed that Morality should not be influence by feelings or desires (inclinations). Nor should be by societies or circumstances. Morality must be based on reason and because average adults are able of rational thinking and self-governing, It also must be autonomous. Human begins have an irrevocable responsibility to act from a good will that at the same time is subject to rational principle. "Morality is a matter of duty" (Kant, pg 489)

Immanuel Kant, a Prussian philosopher, was a leader in the rationalization of society and morality. His revolutionary law, known as the categorical imperative, was a major step toward freeing morality, and people in general, from the bounds of a religious authority or moral absolute to judge them. Working during the Enlightenment, he contributed to the flow of similarly progressive ideas during this pivotal era in human development and knowledge. Brought about by his deeply religious upbringing and social environment, Kant’s categorical imperative was an attempt to rationalize religion, a central goal of the Enlightenment.

However this may not capture what seems intuitively right, for instance what is there to say to a person who does not share the same basic views. Such as, telling an uncaring person to treat others the way they would want to be treated, and with that being said the golden rule does not capture all the truths of morality. Kant thinks that if you are careful and reason in the appropriate way you can see certain things are required by morality that are necessarily universal and do not admit exception. He believes that once one understands what the categorical imperative expresses one will see that it is worth of respect, and all rational people must respect it because it embodies the very idea of rational action in it.

“In November 2005, an online poll by the Society for Human Resource Management and CareerJournal.com found that 72 percent of organizations had no written or verbal policies that addressed work place romance.” When drafting a love contract, Robert K. Smithson (2011) suggested that Human Resources should not take it into their hands to write their own policies, but leave it to the professionals. He feels that an employment attorney would better assist companies by doing the background research on sexual harassment issues and matters of privacy, for them. Having a well-drafted contract would not only decrease the risk of sexual harassment claims and litigation, but most importantly the liability for the organization itself. Yet even having the most well crafted love contract will not guarantee that it will be used. Saul Karen (2007) talks about a recent case where in November 2005, Mark W. Everson was forced to resign as president and CEO of the American Red Cross because of his relationship with a female subordinate. Everson was married at the time. It is unlikely he would have signed a love contract.

What is a categorical imperative? A categorical imperative is a moral obligation which is absolute and necessary in any moral situation and isn’t reliant on a singular person’s desires or wills. For Kant, categorical imperatives are the foundation for morality because they invoke “pure” reasons for our moral actions and decisions since each rational being reasons to act outside of their own personal desires or will which may cloud judgments or impose a biased verdict of the situation. Kant explains this by distinguishing two different kinds of imperatives; categorical and hypothetical. Obviously Kant is interested in categorical imperatives and uses this distinction to show the difference between them

The Categorical Imperative is an unconditional demand of an action regardless of context or circumstance. For Kant, this was an absolute moral law that stands as do X objectively as you are obligated to. The Categorical Imperative must be known a priori, meaning knowledge that is independent of experience or justification. However, judgement itself cannot be analytic, as the concept of a rational agent is not itself comprised in the content. A proposition must be synthetic a priori in order to be the supreme principle of morality, this, claimed Kant was the Categorical Imperative. Comprising of 3 maxims, Kant defined them as: "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law… Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any

The major issues in this case start with Anne not being familiar with the intricacies of politics, culture and communication in Jordan. She took a position in a foreign company in a culture significantly different from her own and did not take the time to properly familiarize herself with the host country. That is the root of the problem, but it continued to compound at her work when she did not do her part to clarify her role in the organization, ExportJordan. Anne also did not clearly understand the role of her co-workers and was not aware of the undercurrents of the situation and what was happening around her. She publicly demeaned her male assistant by giving him a derogatory nickname. She failed to notice the absence of her female coworker until someone mentioned it to her. She failed to realize that not everyone in the organization was there to further the cause of women becoming entrepreneurs and entering the business world. Nor did she seem to understand that Jafar’s influence extended beyond the company and that it unwise to anger him. The biggest problem in this whole case study is that because Anne was not culturally aware she misunderstood everything that was happening around her and her ignorance not only endangered her, but everyone she was attempting to help.

Summarize as best you can the basic moral outlook embodied in the rule, which Kant believes applies to all rational agents: “always act so as to treat humanity, whether in yourself of in another, as an end and never merely as a means” (126). What does it mean to say this is a “categorical imperative”? Do you agree with Kant that we can think of this as a command or moral law that is derived from our own rational nature? Further, provide an example of an action that could be recommended on utilitarian grounds, but which this moral principle would rule out. Which do you agree with more about this example – utilitarianism or Kantianism? Briefly explain.

The Categorical Imperative is broken down in two parts. The first is determining what an imperative is. Kant suggests that everything in nature and the world works in accordance with laws and that only rational beings possess the capability of acting in accordance with those laws. Rational beings, referring are able to

The emptiness charge derived from best Hegel’s known criticism of morality, at the first glance it is Hegel’s criticism of the first formulation of Kant’s category imperative, namely‘Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law’, it soon became somehow Hegel’s whole objection to Kant’s moral law. Hegel find many shortcomings in Kant’s morality, and most of all, the moral law in Kant’s ethical theory has no moral content, there is no criterion at all of moral right and wrong (PR § 135R). Hegel summarizes Kant by referring to‘the supreme principle of morality’ or the ‘the ultimate norm for