Kantian Ethics: Maxims, Imperatives, and Judgments

Kantian Moral and Practical Principles

Kantian moral-practical principles rely on what may be two types: maxims and laws. Maxims are subjective grounds that the subject considers valid for their individual will. Laws are valid principles for all, and objective principles that can build real moral duties.

Two Types of Morality

• Heteronomous Morality: Moral imperatives with explicit material content. The substance of the duty or rule is based on the supposition that the content is good, and its imperatives are always hypothetical or empirical. "Doing X is a duty because X is good."
• Autonomous Morality: Moral duty serves only as the imperative. It is universal and is fundamentally good, and imperatives are always categorical and universal. "Doing X is good because it is a duty for all."

Metaphysics According to Kant

Metaphysics is not a science and may never become one because knowledge of things in themselves is impossible. We have no intuition of the objects of metaphysical knowledge (soul, world, God), and sensitive experience is the limit of all possible knowledge. Metaphysics is unavoidable as a natural human trend and has a regulatory function, indicating the limits that must not be crossed and encouraging research that never stops.

Kant's Judgments

For Kant, there are two types of judgment:

First Type of Judgment

• Analytic: The predicate is included in the subject. It does not increase our knowledge of the subject or the world. It is based on logical principles and laws (non-contradiction, excluded middle, identity) and is necessary.
• Synthetic: The predicate is not in the subject and provides new information. It is conceivable that its opposite is particular and contingent.

Second Type of Judgment

• A Priori: Independent of experience, referring to the form or formal aspects.
• A Posteriori: Dependent on experience, relating to the matter (material aspects).

Characteristics of Kantian Philosophy

• Universality: Addresses all major problems of philosophy.
• Systematicity: Applies a critical method.
• Primacy of Knowledge: The theory of knowledge is the foundation for all other studies.
• Copernican Turn in Epistemology: Focuses on the active role of the subject in knowing, not passive reception of the known world.

Kantian philosophy synthesizes past currents, bridges them, and opens the way to new philosophies. It emphasizes the unity between pure reason and practical reason, viewing them as two uses or applications of the same reason.