Kant's Categorical Imperative

- Absolute - Deontological - Objective

I must do X to achieve Y

I must do X The Categorical Imperative is a moral obligation

"Good Will shines forth like a precious jewel" Nothing can be taken as good without qualification, except good will (ie, an intrinsic good)

To act morally is to do one's duty and one's duty is to obey the moral law. Duty is done for its down sake. Doing it for any other reason does not count.

A Categorical Imperative can be universalised (ie applied to everyone without exception). A maxim (rule) cannot be universalised if it is contradictory. There are 2 contradictions.

This is when something is self-contradictory, eg 'only keep promises when it's convenient to do so.'

A rule that you would not wish to see universalised as it might work against you, eg 'do not give money to the poor.'

Treating people as means to ends is exploitative. To be consistent, we need to value everyone equally.

A world in which people do not treat each other as means, but only as ends

Kant believed that there is an objective moral law, which can be known through reason (not sense experience) and is therefore a priori. However, as moral statements can be right or wrong, they are also synthetic. Moral statements are therefore 'a priori synthetic'.

Kant maintained that humans seek an ultimate end (supreme good) or summum bonum, which is pursued through moral acts. Since it is impossible to achieve this in one lifetime, he concluded that we must have immortal souls to succeed. Belief in the afterlife and God therefore provide an opportunity to reach this supreme good, where happiness and virture are united.