Kant's Categorical Imperative: A Foundation for Moral Duty
Classified in Philosophy and ethics
Written on in 
English with a size of 2.15 KB
Kant's Categorical Imperative
Moral Materials and Universal Duties
Moral materials lack the power to support universal duties. While containing universal moral laws, they only offer maxims that cannot oblige everyone. Formal moral imperatives, however, contain no specific material. They consist of a single imperative defining the form of any moral imperative: universality.
The Categorical Imperative
Duty is a categorical imperative because it is unconditional. It is formal, expressing only the form of action, not its content (which would make it material). Kant's moral imperative is therefore: 1) formal, 2) categorical, and 3) singular. Furthermore, it is 4) rational and 5) a priori, derived from pure reason, independent of experience.
Formulations of the Categorical Imperative
While the categorical imperative is unique, Kant provides several formulations. Two notable examples are:
First Formulation: Universal Legislator
"Act in such a way that the will can regard itself through its maxim, as a universal legislator."
This formula expresses the autonomy of the will. In morality, the individual will decides which moral maxim to follow, using the categorical imperative as a procedure. Moral materials, conversely, are heteronomous, dictating actions externally.
Second Formulation: Humanity as an End
"Work in such a way that you use humanity, whether in your person or in the person of any other, always as an end and never simply as a means."
This formula emphasizes the necessity of considering every rational human being as an end in themselves.
Kantian Ethics as Procedural Morality
Kantian ethics is considered a procedural morality. It doesn't provide a fixed set of duties but a procedure for discerning the morality of an action based on its universalizability. Kant's example illustrates this: If one adopts the maxim of not fulfilling promises, can this become universal law? No, because if no one kept promises, promising itself would become meaningless, a contradiction.