Understanding Kant's Moral Philosophy and the Realm of Ends

What Should I Do? Kant's Moral Philosophy

Kant replies: Reason criticizes the practice. Human reason has two faces: reason concerned with the theoretical (what is) and reason dedicated to the practical (what to do). These are two sides of a single reason. The practical face is dedicated to identifying with our will.

The Foundation of Kantian Ethics

To study this aspect, Kant starts from a "factum": the moral law exists in men. We know what is right and what is wrong. Kant wonders if pure reason is enough to know what must be done.

Kant's Critique of Material Morals

Kant’s previous studies on morality led him to criticize what he called "material morals" (MM), stating that they are not well done. Material morals have a double content: they tell us what the highest good we should aspire to is, and they give us rules to reach it.

Criticisms of Material Morals:

1. They draw their contents from experience; they are empirical.
2. They use the hypothetical or conditional imperative. They are used as a means of achieving an end; if you do not wish to achieve that end, the imperative is not valid.
3. They are heteronomous ethics, where the rules come from outside the individual.

Kantian Ethics: Universal and Autonomous

Kantian ethics is universal and necessary; it does not depend on personal tastes or experiences. Its categorical imperatives are necessarily valid. It must be an autonomous ethics, where reason puts laws upon itself without relying on anyone else. Kant's ethics does not prescribe any specific action or way to do it; it only provides the course of action.

Formal Ethics: Acting Out of Respect for Duty

Kantian ethics is a formal ethics: it states that we must act out of respect for duty. Kant distinguishes three modes of action:

• Acting against duty.
• Acting in accordance with duty (but perhaps for selfish reasons).
• Acting out of respect for duty.

According to Kant, only the third mode is morally valid. If everyone acted out of respect for duty, we would live in a perfect society where everyone would be free.

Formulas of the Categorical Imperative

How to act out of respect for duty is expressed in different formulas of the Categorical Imperative:

1. "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law."
2. "Act as if the maxim of your action were to become by your will a universal law of nature."
3. "Act so that your will may be considered, through its maxims, as a universal legislator."
4. "Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end, and never merely as a means."

Humans as Ends in Themselves

Kant distinguishes between realities that function as means (which can be substituted by others) and realities that function as ends (which are valuable in themselves). Ends are not priced, but possess dignity, and are irreplaceable.

Kant speaks of humans as ends; they are valuable, and we must treat them as such. They cannot be used merely as a means. If people acted according to this imperative, they would live in an enlightened utopia—a world only achievable through this mode of action, which makes us moral adults. Kant calls this "the realm of ends."