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82 lines
6.7 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Deontological Ethics
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sort: 120
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section-id: ethics
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description: Kant's categorical imperative, the formulas of universal law and humanity, perfect and imperfect duties, and neo-Kantian developments.
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language: en
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---
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# Deontological Ethics
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Deontological ethics holds that certain actions are intrinsically right or wrong regardless of their consequences. The term derives from the Greek *deon* (duty). Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) constructed the most influential deontological system in the history of ethics, grounding morality entirely in reason rather than sentiment or consequences.
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## Kant's Moral Philosophy: Starting Points
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Kant begins the *Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals* (1785) by identifying the only thing that is good without qualification: a **good will**.^[Kant, I. (1785). *Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals*. Trans. Korsgaard, Cambridge UP, 1998.] Intelligence, courage, and even happiness can be used for evil purposes. But a will that acts from duty — that acts because doing so is right, regardless of inclination or consequence — is good unconditionally.
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This distinguishes acting *in accordance with* duty (which a prudent merchant might do for self-interested reasons) from acting *from* duty (the only source of genuine moral worth).
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## The Categorical Imperative
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Kant argues that all genuine moral requirements are *categorical* imperatives — commands that apply unconditionally, regardless of one's desires. "Pay your debts" is categorical: it applies whether or not you want to, whether or not it benefits you. By contrast, "If you want to be trusted, pay your debts" is a *hypothetical* imperative, binding only if you have the relevant desire.
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Kant offers three principal formulations of the categorical imperative, claiming they are equivalent:
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### Formula of Universal Law (FUL)
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> "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law."
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To test whether an action is permissible, extract the maxim (underlying principle) of the action and ask: could I consistently will that everyone act on this maxim? The classic example is lying promises. My maxim: "When in financial difficulty, I will make a false promise to repay a loan." If universalised, the institution of promising collapses — no one would believe promises. The maxim is self-defeating when universalised.
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### Formula of Humanity (FH)
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> "Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never as a means only."
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Persons have *dignity* — a value beyond all price. Using someone merely as an instrument for your purposes violates their status as a rational, self-legislating agent. This formula generates more intuitive verdicts than FUL in many cases and grounds a robust conception of human rights.
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### Formula of the Kingdom of Ends (FKE)
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> "Act according to maxims of a universally legislating member of a merely possible kingdom of ends."
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The moral community is a hypothetical kingdom of rational agents who legislate universal laws for themselves and for all. Each person is both subject to and author of the moral law.
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## Perfect and Imperfect Duties
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Kant distinguishes **perfect duties** (negative, admitting no exceptions) from **imperfect duties** (positive, allowing latitude in how they are fulfilled).
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- *Perfect duties*: Do not murder. Do not lie. Do not make false promises. These admit no exceptions.
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- *Imperfect duties*: Develop your talents. Help others in need. We must pursue these ends, but have discretion in how.
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## The Formula of Universal Law: Applications
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Kant tests four cases:
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1. **Suicide to escape suffering** — The maxim of self-destruction from self-love contradicts itself when universalised (life-preserving instinct cannot simultaneously mandate destroying life).
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2. **False promises** — Universalised, this destroys the institution of promising.
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3. **Neglecting one's talents** — Although we can consistently will a world where all neglect their talents, we cannot *rationally* will such a world as members who might need others' developed capacities.
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4. **Refusing to aid others** — We cannot rationally will a world with no mutual aid, since we might need it ourselves.
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## Objections to Kantian Ethics
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### The Problem of Conflicting Duties
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What if telling the truth would lead to murder? The notorious example: a murderer asks you where your friend is hiding. Kant's strict application of FUL seems to require telling the truth.^[Kant, I. (1797). "On a Supposed Right to Lie from Philanthropy."] Most critics find this conclusion intolerable. Defenders argue Kant was wrong to apply his own theory in this case.
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### The Formalism Objection (Hegel)
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Hegel objected that the categorical imperative is empty — too formal to generate determinate moral content. Almost any maxim can be made consistent with FUL through reformulation.^[Hegel, G.W.F. (1821). *Philosophy of Right*, §135.]
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### The Rigorism Objection
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The absolute prohibition on lying, even to prevent serious harm, seems morally obtuse. A moral theory that ignores consequences entirely cannot be adequate.
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### The Humanity Formula and Its Scope
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Does FH extend to animals? Kant seems to deny that animals have dignity (since they lack rationality), but this generates counterintuitive implications about the permissibility of animal cruelty.
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## Neo-Kantian Developments
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**Christine Korsgaard** grounds Kantian ethics in the structure of reflective self-consciousness. When we act, we implicitly endorse a principle. Practical identity — the source of all our obligations — commits us to valuing humanity as an end.^[Korsgaard, C. (1996). *Sources of Normativity*. Cambridge University Press.]
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**Thomas Scanlon's contractualism**: An act is wrong if its performance under the circumstances would be disallowed by any set of principles that no one could reasonably reject.^[Scanlon, T.M. (1998). *What We Owe to Each Other*. Harvard University Press.] This grounds moral requirements in what we owe to each other as persons — a broadly Kantian spirit without the metaphysical apparatus.
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**W.D. Ross** introduced the concept of *prima facie* duties — duties that are binding unless overridden by stronger competing duties in a given situation. Fidelity, gratitude, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice are among them. This pluralist deontology avoids the single-minded rigour of Kant while preserving the idea that some actions have moral weight independent of consequences.^[Ross, W.D. (1930). *The Right and the Good*. Oxford University Press.]
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## Further Reading
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- Korsgaard, C. (1996). *Creating the Kingdom of Ends*. Cambridge University Press.
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- O'Neill, O. (1989). *Constructions of Reason*. Cambridge University Press.
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- Herman, B. (1993). *The Practice of Moral Judgment*. Harvard University Press.
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