Kant Ethics

4 Pages 1076 Words

INTRODUCTION:
In this paper I will attempt to overview Kantian Ethics and by doing so explain why I believe that Knat’s theories are best suited for making business decisions.
18th century German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) presents a criterion of moral obligation, which he calls the categorical imperative. Kant’s account of morality fits squarely into the deontological (Deontology is the study of duty) tradition. Kant’s writings indicate that he was aware of the moral traditions that went before him, such as virtue theory which bases morality on good character traits, and consequential accounts which base morality solely on the consequences of actions. In all of his ethical writings, Kant rejects these traditional theories of morality and argues instead that moral actions are based on a “supreme principle of morality” which is objective, rational, and freely chosen: the categorical imperative.













Kant’s Ethics:
Kant is the primary proponent in history of deontological ethics. On Kant’s view, the sole feature that gives an action moral worth is not the outcome that is achieved by the action, but the motive that is behind the action. The categorical imperative is Kant’s famous statement of this duty: “Act only according to the maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.”
The good will, Kant says, is the faculty of acting according to a conception of law. When we act, whether or not we achieve what we intend with our actions is often beyond our control, so the morality of our actions does not depend upon their outcome. What we can control is the will behind the action. Therefore the morality of an action must be assessed in terms of the motivation behind it. A shopkeeper, Kant says, might do what is in accord with duty, and not overcharge a child. Kant argues, “It is not sufficient to do that which should be morally good that it conform...