Morality And Kant

Morality And Kant

“All rational knowledge is either material, and concerns some object, or formal, and is occupied only with the form of understanding and reason itself and with the universal rules of thinking, without regard to distinctions among objects”(page 3). Kant uses these thoughts throughout all of his writings; all of his comments, thoughts, and views relate back to this principle. Kant expresses his views on morality, duty, good will, and moral duty through out the “Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals.” I agree with many of Kant’s views of these principles, but at the same time disagree with the extremes he takes in trying to persuade the reader.

The first “proposition of morality” is that you have to have done something to achieve moral worth. On page 14, Kant says that action done out of “vanity or selfishness” is not true moral worth. Kant uses the example of a sorrowful man. Although this man is sorrowful, he still helped others around him. While helping others, he could not accept sympathy from them because he was so preoccupied with his own sorrows. He doesn’t receive anything in return for his help; now, since he is not receiving anything for his help, he has done this act with “genuine moral worth.” He is helping others without even being aware of the effect he is having on them. On page 16 it states, “An action done from duty does not have its moral worth in the purpose which is to be achieved through it but in the maxim whereby it is determined.” This quote is Kant’s second proposition of morality. Kant’s second proposition is a lot like the first. I think what Kant is trying to say that when someone does something, not to benefit him or herself, it is done for “duty.” When I read this I thought of politicians. When a politician is campaigning he promises “lower taxes” and “better health benefits.” Although he may actually try to achieve these things, he is using the hope of the voters to get where he wants to be. This example is against what Kant believed.

The third proposition of Kant states, “duty is the necessity to do an action from respect to law.” The third, I believe, is achieved through the first two propositions. When someone does their “duty” to a country or a city, it is because they respect the laws that were made there. When I hear the word, “duty” I think of being in the army, especially during a draft. When someone gets drafted it is their duty to serve their country. Although some do cross country borders to get away from it, those who respect their country and its laws will serve with pride. Kant believes and knows that doing your “duty” won’t always make you happy; according to him, happiness is a false guide for duty. Kant believes that you should do your duty in life. Kant’s ethical views do not deal with moderation, wisdom, or being happy, but instead it deals with what your duty is, what you are bound to do. Kant’s thought on morality is doing “the duty” even if you do not want to do it. It is about realizing what you need to do and doing it. Kant realizes that doing your duty isn’t always going to be something you enjoy; but that it is not hard to determine whether you are acting selfishly or out of duty.

Kant’s three “propositions to morality” are very well thought out and well developed. I believe that the ideas that Kant has expressed are thoughts that all of us think on a daily basis; we just have a selfish mentality that we all must overcome.

Kant’s three propositions display how he feels about morality and “good-will.” Kant believes in the “moral law.” The moral law is that we act in such a way the maxum of your action can be universal law. A maxum is a rule or standard. Kant knows that his views on ethics and morality can be controversial. Kant states that you have to know what “moral” is before you can become moral. On page 24, Kant uses the example of friendship. He states, “pure sincerity of friendship can be demanded of every man, and this demand is not in the least diminished if a sincere friend has never existed, because this duty, as duty in general, prior to all experience lies in the idea of reason which determines the will on a prior grounds.” I believe Kant is saying that you cannot expect someone to act a certain way when they have never had an example of how they are supposed to work. To Kant, virtue is voluntary in such it comes from good will. Your “good will” is key in doing anything; it!

is the ability to choose what you want to do.

Kant disagrees with the idea of lying. He sees the views that people take on lying, but do not agree with them. Kant realizes that people lie to get out of bad situations, but once you lie, what do you do next? Kant believes that once you drift away from the “principle of duty” that it is bad, and you are being untrue to the rules that you know. Kant says that if one person lies, then that breaks communication between that person and the person they are having a conversation with. Kant believes that when lying you are breaking “moral law.” And you should not use a lie to get yourself out a difficult situation, when most likely you put yourself in that situation to begin with.

Kant has many thoughts about moral duty. He believes that there are four categories that Kant gives moral duty. The first category of moral duty is committing suicide. Kant states on page 38, “for love of myself, I make it my principle to shorten my life when by a longer duration it threatens more evil than satisfaction.” I interpret this as it is better to end your life before you cause any harm to yourself or someone else.

And if you end your own life it may hinder you from completing your duty to your community or to the world. Kant believes that committing suicide is a selfish act, and I agree. The choice of committing suicide not only takes your own life, but it affects your family, friends, and peers. It causes your loved ones to feel pain and they lose the opportunity to spend more time with you. The second of Kant’s thoughts is that it is wrong to borrow money when you know you cannot repay it. This is also a selfish act, especially when you promise the person that you will repay them. “Now this is the principle of self-love or of his own benefit,” states Kant (page 39). If the man were to promise the money would be returned and does not do so, then the trust of the other man towards the borrower will decrease, as his respect will also. Kant’s third category is the cultivation of talents. While reading, I interpreted the passage on pages 39 and 40 to mean that if a person does not use the talents given to them, then they are being selfish. They should be using their talents to improve the community around them. Kant believes that talents are like a piece of metal. If you don’t use your talents, you will loose them; as in metal, if you don’t take care of it and nurture it, the metal will rust and will be useless. Kant’s final thought on moral duty comes from an old prophecy of: help those who are in need. “What concern of it is mine?” states Kant on page 40. Kant knows that everyone has struggles and hardships of his or her own, but some are stronger than others and more blessed, so those who are better off should help those under them. Again, this thought could be a selfish one. Kant knows that people are concerned for themselves and their family and that is all. So, it is a good person who helps others, and that is the person who sticks out and has an impact on the people and community around him or her.

Kant’s ideas and thoughts about morality are much like we are taught in The Bible: “Love your neighbor and even your enemy.” His principles are not uncommon for us today. Although we know how we should act towards others, we do not always do so. Many of Kant’s thoughts were confusing, but I do understood where he was coming from on his main points of morality. While reading Kant, I realized that many of the views I agree with and others I do not. Kant’s four points of moral duty shows his acceptance of many Christian beliefs. The main one being, “put others before yourself.” Also known as the Golden Rule, “Treat others as you want to be treated.” All four points of Kant’s moral duty basically reduce back to this thought. For example, wouldn’t you be upset if a loved one of yours committed suicide? You would be dealing with a lot of pain that you weren’t prepared to deal with. Also, you wouldn’t want to have someone borrow money from you, when they knew that they couldn’t repay it. And using your talents for the good of the community can affect everyone. If you don’t use your talent then someone else won’t use theirs, and the entire community will suffer. And referring to the fourth thought of Kant, if you were in need for necessities that could save your life, wouldn’t you want someone that was able to help you out do it? Of course, everyone needs to help everyone else as much as they can.

Kant knows that his views are controversial, but he tries to show that he can see both points of view. He may feel one way about a certain situation, such as his thoughts on lying, but expresses both sides of the story. I believe that Kant knows exactly what is going on in the world around him and things have not changed much today. I think we should all try to live up to some of Kant’s propositions, I believe it would better our own communities and world.

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