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Immanuel Kant
Reasons for Kant's Belief that there are No Exceptions to the Duty Not to Lie
Lying involves making a statement that is largely untruthful. Kant believes that there can be no exceptions to the duty not to lie - regardless of the consequences. For instance, he argues that it is wrong to lie to a would-be murderer, in order to save the life of an innocent child. In this case, the would-be murderer has set out on a murder course, and hence forfeited his own right. Lying to him would amount to violation of his rights. Kant's view is that any lie, regardless of circumstances, disregards goodwill, goes against the motive and principle of duty, and is not in conformity with the universality principle.
With regard to lying and goodwill, it should be noted that in life, "we have to struggle against unruly impulses and desires; a good will is manifested in acting for the sake of duty" (Kart, 2012). Human goodwill is best manifested in a person's ability to overcome the obstacles presented in his/her way by such unruly desires and impulses. A perfect will is driven by duty and would face no difficulty in overcoming such obstacles (Kart, 2012). Lying...
When it comes to the duty motive, an action is considered "morally good, not because it is done from immediate inclinations, still less because it is done from self-interest, but because it is done for the sake of duty" (Kart, 2012). In order to determine whether our actions are immediate-inclined or duty-driven, Kart advocates for action-isolation. A lie driven by generosity, or sympathy "may be right and praiseworthy, but that nevertheless, it has no distinctively moral worth" (Kart, 2012). As per the duty principle, an action's moral worth isn't measured "from the result it attains or seeks to attain, but from a moral principle or maxim -- the principle of doing one's duty, whatever that may be" (Kart, 2012). Our will is dependent on our maxims. We should weigh the maxims behind our actions to determine whether or not they align with duty, since actions are only considered morally acceptable (good), if they are done for duty's sake (Kart, 2012). The universality principle calls for the weighing of maxims behind our actions to determine whether or not, they can "be willed as universal laws - that is,…
References
Immanuel, K. (2012). The Moral Law: Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. New York: Routledge.
Poel, I.V. & Royakkers, L. (2011). Ethics, Technology and Engineering: An Introduction. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.
Kant would certainly agree with Cohen, but there are many who criticize that view as outdated and inhumane. Kant's views do not acknowledge that animals could have feelings. Singer continues, "[W]e know that these animals have nervous systems very like ours, which respond physiologically like ours do when the animal is in circumstances in which we would feel pain: an initial rise of blood pressure, dilated pupils, perspiration, an increased
Kant, Hanslick and Music Kant and Hanslick on Music and the Beauty Thereof Several theories have been formulated regarding how art should be evaluated aesthetically and how this aesthetic evaluation can be applied to music. While some contend that aesthetics and music should be evaluated from a Marxist perspective in which socio-historic factors are taken into consideration, others contend that a work of art should be judged based upon its form or
Epistemology Immanuel Kant's explanation on how we gain knowledge is preferable to that of David Hume. The mind can be compared with the computer in illustrating how the mind gathers and processes information or sense-data from generalizations, which in turn derive from a categorical imperative. A person need not experience something before he can apprehend or learn it. Exposition. David Hume believes that all ideas are derived and become knowable only from
Luther and Kant: Visions of Freedom Freedom carries so many meanings, both denotations and connotations. Perhaps no concept has been hashed out more by western philosophers throughout the centuries. The ramifications of their arguments are vast: as "free" people, we lean heavily on the concept of freedom, but our laws and court cases constantly struggle to define what exactly we can and cannot do. May we burn the flag, for instance?
We still understand within ourselves what greatness consists of. We still make our tallies relevant to ethical considerations. We can base our society on rules and order. We can prosecute the murderers. But is all we ever do is tally and rule and prosecute, and we don't allow for the possibility of purifying ourselves in the leap into the void of greatness, we miss having the connection with greatness
According to Aristotle, a man's true worth is known by his deeds that is how he acts and reacts in certain situations. He holds the view that a person's actions can be judged by a certain standard of perfection which he calls 'good'. Conclusions Critique of Judgment is a masterpiece of Kant that attempts to correlate aesthetic and moral judgments. In his work he tries to find moral dimensions to concepts