Immanuel Kant Beliefs

In 1788, German philosopher Immanuel Kant propounded the ethical theory of Deontology which is the moral compulsion to act according to the laid down guidelines of a set of maxims despite the result or consequences that such actions may incur in the end. While religious deontology was based on divine decrees, Kantian deontology is based on human reasoning; rationality. Deontology expects that whenever a moral agent makes a decision it should not be under the influence of emotions, human inclinations or even selfish desires but should be based on morals and rationale solely.

Ethics can be defined as "the conscious reflection on our moral beliefs with the aim of improving, extending or refining those beliefs in some way." (Dodds, Lecture 2) Kantian moral theory and Utilitarianism are two theories that attempt to answer the ethical nature of human beings. This paper will attempt to explain how and why Kantian moral theory and Utilitarianism differ as well as discuss why I believe Kant's theory provides a more plausible account of ethics.

There is very little question as to what action a strict deontologist would do in the scenario for this assignment he or she would unequivocally adhere to his or her duty. The more pressing question, of course, revolves around just where that duty lies. For a deontologist, that duty would lie with the job at hand and its responsibilities. As one who took an oath to only program software in accordance to the company that he or she works for which is essentially operating as an extension of the government that wishes the programmer to 'push the button' and destroy millions of innocent lives in World War II it would strongly appear that such an individuals would consider it his or her duty to effectively start World War III.

Butts and Butts (2015, p 188) continue that Kantian deontology suggests that each rational being is ethically bound to act with a sense of duty for which the consequences are irrelevant, whereby a provider may consider that certain actions would ultimately save their patient's life and better serve their health, which is the general aim of health care services. Ethics is an active process distinguishing matters of right and wrong and how these matters relate to the well-being or and relationship amongst persons.

Lying the one form of communication that is the untruth expressed to be the truth. Immanuel Kant states that lying is morally wrong in all possible ways. His hatred for lying has made him “just assumed that anyone who lied would be operating with a maxim like this: tell a lie so as to gain some benefit.”(Landau,pp.171) This is true for a vast number of people, they will lie in order to gain a certain benefit from the lie rather than the truth.It is similar to if you play a game of truth or dare, some rather pick a dare because it would release them from having to tell the truth. However, those who do pick truth still have a chance to lie to cover up the absolute truth.People lie in order to cover who they truly are. Even if you lie to benefit someone or something else, it would not matter to Kant because he does not care for the consequences. If you lie but have a good intention it is not the same for Kant, he would argue that you still lied no matter the consequence that a lie is a lie. “ While lying, we accuse others for not being transparent. While being hypocrites ourselves, we expect others to be sincere.” (Dehghani,Ethics) We know how it feels to be lied to by a person, so in order to not have the feeling returned, we hope the person will be truthful. We rather be surrounded by truthful people constantly despite all the lies that some people tell. No

Immanuel Kant was a famous philosopher whose philosophical influences impacted almost every new philosophical idea, theory, concept etc. In a sense, he was considered the central face of contemporary philosophy. Kant spent his whole life in Russia. Starting out as a tutor, to then a professor, he lectured about everything; from geography to obviously philosophy. In his early life, he was raised to emphasize faith and religious feelings over reason and theological principles. As he got older though, that position changed. It then became that knowledge is necessarily confided and within the bounds of reason. Now with this in mind, Kant claims many different things that derive from this. There are many different parts and aspects to it which is why it relates to almost every philosophical idea out there. Kant referred his epistemology as “critical philosophy” since all he wanted to do was critique reason and sort our legitimate claims of reasons from illegitimate ones. His epistemology says that we can have an objective, universal, and necessary knowledge of the world, and that science cannot tell us about reality. He claims science cannot tell us anything because it only tells us about the world as it is perceived, whether it’s based on measures, manipulations, experiments and so on. Kant says that we all have knowledge; that the mind and experience work together and that we construct and gain this knowledge by both reason and experience.

Kantian deontology is a form of duty-based ethics. This is in contrast to utilitarianism, which focuses on consequences (Kay 4). Kant rejected utilitarianism, because it focused on the results of the action rather than its nature. Since no one can know the result of an action with certainty, no one should be praised or blamed for the result of that action, according to Kant (Kay 4). In other words, moral evaluation should occur in the willing rather than in the achieving. Kant wants to spread the notion that actions should be morally evaluated based on what humans can control (Kay 4). And Kant believes that what humans can control is their will.

In “Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals”, Immanuel Kant states that one test for whether an action is morally permissible is that it can be universalized. This means that you are not allowed to do anything yourself that you would not allow others to do as well; you should not be allowed to make exceptions to yourself. Actions that you perform should be actions that you would allow everyone to perform, making this action universalized. If everyone is allowed to do it, than it should be considered a morally permissible action.

Kant’s deontology emphasizes the importance of rationality, consistency, and respect for people in the way we live our lives. In his eyes absolute morals cannot be violated no matter the circumstance and all people could act the same way. This is a requirement of universalizablity which means that these morals that are created by everyone have to be able to be applied to everyone. For example, if someone were to put a gun to your head and say that if you didn’t give the name of a prisoner to shoot they will shoot ten more prisoners. Is this situation rational? Kant says no. By giving up the name of that prisoner you would essentially be killing them. In Kant’s view

In his publication, Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, Immanuel Kant supplies his readers with a thesis that claims morality can be derived from the principle of the categorical imperative. The strongest argument to support his thesis is the difference between actions in accordance with duty and actions in accordance from duty. To setup his thesis, Kant first draws a distinction between empirical and “a priori” concepts. Empirical concepts are ideas we reach from our experiences in the world. On the other hand and in contrast, “a priori” concepts are ideas we reach as an end point of reasoning prior to or apart from any experience of how things occur in the world. Kant

As a result of continued human suffering and questions of morality, many ethical theories have been developed over time to guide humans on how to coexist, differentiate between right and wrong, and live a “good” life. Many times, these different ethical theories seem to contradict one another, but all are conceived with the intention to guide morally just lives. Deontology is the most applicable theory of ethics because Deontology possesses a universal categorical imperative encompassing the ideas of having a “good will” and making decisions based on duty. The idea of having a universal categorical imperative prompts decision making that is increasingly based on duty, impartiality, justice, and considering how a particular decision will

Monique Sawyer Immanuel Kant formed an ethical based theory describing reason and logic principals according to the evaluation of humans. "Morality and Rationality", is a chapter that discuses Kant's thoughts and reasons as to why humans portray certain behaviors. For example, he speaks about the good will and the motives behind certain duties. At times individuals exercise good will because of the deed within itself. Kant explained that the only good is the "good will" within itself.

In contrasts, Deontology, or the “Kantian Duty Based ethics”, is based on duty or principals

Kant believes that all people come to moral conclusions about right and wrong based on rational thought. Deontological moral systems are characterized by a focus upon adherence to independent moral rules or duties. To make the correct moral choices, we have to understand what our moral duties are and what correct rules exist to regulate those duties. When we follow our duty, we are behaving morally. When we fail to follow our duty, we are behaving immorally. Deontological moral systems typically stress the reasons why certain actions are performed. Simply following the correct moral rules is often not sufficient; instead, we have to have the correct motivations. This might allow a person to not be considered immoral even though they have broken a moral rule, but only so long as they were motivated to adhere to some correct moral duty. Nevertheless, a correct motivation alone is never a justification for an action in a deontological moral system and cannot be used as a basis for describing an action as morally correct. It is also not enough to simply believe that something is the correct duty to follow. Duties and obligations must be determined objectively and absolutely, not subjectively. There is no room in deontological systems of subjective feelings; on the contrary, most adherents condemn subjectivism and relativism in all their forms.

Immanuel Kant concerns himself with deontology, and as a deontologist, he believes that the rightness of an action depends in part on things other than the goodness of its consequences, and so, actions should be judged based on an intrinsic moral law that says whether the action is right or wrong – period. Kant introduced the Categorical Imperative which is the central philosophy of his theory of morality, and an understandable approach to this moral law. It is divided into three formulations. The first formulation of Kant’s Categorical Imperative states that one should “always act in such a way that the maxim of your action can be willed as a universal law of humanity”; an act is either right or wrong based on its ability to be