Immanuel Kant's Concept of Duty and Imperatives

Kant's Concept of Duty and Imperatives

Duty and Good Will

The concept of duty implies that 'goodwill' is not absolute but subject to limitations. Humans are not purely rational but also driven by inclinations such as love, hate, sympathy, pride, greed, and pleasure. These inclinations often conflict with rationality and the moral law. Good will manifests in the struggle against these tendencies. When this conflict arises, goodwill is called duty.

A purely rational will, unaffected by inclinations, would be a 'holy will,' spontaneously adhering to the moral law without obligation. For such a will, 'duty' would be meaningless, as 'want' and 'must' would naturally coincide. However, for humans, the moral law often conflicts with desires.

Types of Acts

1. Acts Contrary to Duty: Consider a drowning person. If someone capable of saving them chooses not to because they owe the person money and death would erase the debt, they act out of inclination, disregarding duty.
2. Acts According to Duty and Mediate Inclination: If the drowning person is the debtor, saving them aligns with the inclination to recover the loan. This is a mediate inclination, as the rescued person is a means to an end. Ethically, this act is neutral.
3. Acts According to Duty and Immediate Inclination: Saving a loved one aligns duty with immediate inclination, as the person is an end in themselves. However, Kant considers this morally neutral.
4. Acts Done for Duty: Saving a stranger or even an enemy, despite the inclination not to, constitutes a morally good act for Kant. This occurs when duty is followed against inclination.

Imperatives

Imperatives are formulas expressing duty and the moral law's constraint on the will.

Hypothetical Imperatives

These imperatives present actions as means to an end. The actions have no intrinsic value, serving only to achieve something. Such imperatives are found in what Kant termed 'material ethics.'

Categorical Imperatives

These imperatives mandate actions good in themselves, not merely as means to an end. Kant called them 'apodictic,' meaning self-contained constraints.

Formulas of the Categorical Imperative

1. Formula of Universal Law: "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law."
2. Formula of the Law of Nature: "Act as if the maxim of your action were to become through your will a universal law of nature."