Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), a German deontological ethicist, is best known for his significant views about morality: people have an unconditional, universal moral duty to act rightly, with the right intention, that cannot be excused by personal preferences or circumstances. Kant's theory substantially opposes utilitarianism, because he did not derive the morality of an act from its good consequences; it also contrasts with Ross's prima facie duties, since Kant insisted that moral duties cannot be overridden by circumstances. The Kantian theory of ethics has always had some fairly challenging objections, from his day to the 20th century, but the theory itself is quite foundational to the study of ethics today.
What were Immanuel Kant's basic moral beliefs? For Kant, acts are only worthy of praise when they are performed with the purest of pure intentions and when society's obligation is to do good deeds just because they are good. The quantity of pleasure to any number of people (including oneself) is not considered a valid reason to do something in Kant's view; he only wants righteous acts with equally pure intentions. For example, someone could give money to a homeless person. There are different ways to decide the morality of this. Under utilitarianism, the act is considered moral because of the good reputation the individual gets and the tangible money and pleasure given to the other person.
Kant couldn't have cared less about these results; he would only praise the giver for having a genuine desire to do right for the sake of it being right. Kant's basic principle of morality is found in the categorical imperative and can be summed up as follows: only do non-contradictory things that one can expect others to do universally (since these are considered moral laws, or maxims), and never use people as a means to an end. One can expect other people to tell the truth universally because honesty is not self-contradictory; but one cannot will the practice of making false promises as a moral law because it is logically impossible. If one needs someone else's favor, that particular goal would have to be shared by the recipient and the one doing the favor. The one doing that favor needs to know all the details about the project and cannot be coerced into it. Kant considered all people to be inextricably connected to morality; self-contradictory maxims and manipulation would not promote peace.
Kant's moral theory is apparently supported by almost every religion around the world. Most religions have moral laws that are very similar to Kant's principles. Think about the Buddhist Noble Eightfold Path, for example. Its advice, "right speech, right action, right intention, right-mindedness," seems to be an expanded version of Kant's precept to act rightly with the right intention. Judaism and Christianity have their Ten Commandments, which are also unchanging moral duties. Islam, Judaism, and Christianity contain accounts of people following their unconditional obligations without complaining, in spite of painful circumstances, such as Jesus dying on the Cross. Hinduism also contains such a story in the Ramayana, in which Rama unquestioningly goes to live in the forest after his mother banished him there. Almost every religion warns against those who act rightly but with self-serving intentions. For instance, the infamous Pharisees of Christianity act pious, with their dramatic prayers in public, but their actions are lacking moral worth. Kant's ethical code seems to be present in almost all religions.
Kant's moral theory is also supported by laws in today's world. Consider U.S. laws against copyright infringement. Kant would see the theft of someone else's ideas as disrespect for morality itself. Further, copyright infringement could not be allowed by law because it would become a self-contradictory practice if applied universally; every idea would potentially be stolen from someone else. Therefore, inventors and authors would be cheated out of the rightful compensation for their creations (being used as a means to an end by the ones forging their work), or may not exist since all ideas would become unoriginal thereafter. Thankfully, there are laws placing fines and prison sentences on copyright infringement. People may also have a greater sense of purpose in life if they have a moral duty, and they may try to better the world more actively if they see themselves as called to do so. The moral duty guides their goals and behaviors from day to day. As a result, there is definitely psychological support for Kant's moral ethics.
A very famous objection to Kant's moral theory is called utilitarianism, created by British philosophers Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873). Under utilitarianism, the main thing to look for when performing an action is what good will come of it. The original motives are not considered because utilitarians do not see any act as intrinsically right or wrong. The only intrinsic good is pleasure, utilitarians suppose, so they look for the units of pleasure passed around to any quantity of people.
Utilitarians believe that the best actions result in the highest happiness for the greatest number, even if the person performing the action makes everyone else happy but leaves himself or herself unhappy. It is all about maximizing benefits for large groups of people and is not concerned with individuals. Copyright infringement, if it provides more pleasure, money, or job opportunities to the people stealing another's work than to the original author, could conceivably be allowed from a utilitarian standpoint. Kant directly contrasts utilitarian logic by proposing moral duties outside of giving people pleasure and replacing pleasure with morality as an intrinsic good. An advocate of Kantian ethics would argue that it is important for people to have an unconditional moral duty. Otherwise, how could anyone be truly good in this world? How would we be able to trust relief efforts for natural disasters, animal rescues, or hunger relief funds if there is a looming possibility that they are not genuinely acting for good? How could we protect our patents, manuscripts, films, and books from someone looking to rob us of them? Without unconditional moral duties, humans (who naturally have an instinct to act for self-interest) might lose the power of doing good. Instead, self-interested motives might dominate their sense of morality. People could be swindled, misled, or otherwise taken advantage of. Humans would decide whether or not an action was worth doing merely by how much pleasure, for how many people, and at what likelihood the pleasure could be doled out. Suppose an act of violence saved more people than it injured or killed; the hurt people would suffer while the others went on without remorse. If people had a sense of a moral duty to act rightly for the right purposes, the world would certainly be a safer place; a place where more people could be trusted not to manipulate others and where everyone could be a force of positive change. Kant's system could give everyone a greater sense of security and a higher moral purpose.
Kantian ideology is very important in the study of modern-day ethical theory and is not some dusty idea that should be confined to a little black box we call “the past.” It has support in many components: psychological, religious, and legal. Under Kant's watchful eyes, morality is much more important than pleasure. Kant cares about the moral quality of interactions between people or the acts of society or individuals; he is not impressed by net units of pleasure, although Bentham and Mill would be thrilled with them. Kant likes right actions, but sees the underlying motive as much more important. He also calls all of us to embrace an unchanging moral duty, which cannot give way to a changing culture or fickle personal preferences. This powerful ideology has as strong a foothold in ethics today as it did in Germany ages ago.
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