In Kant's philosophy, Freedom is
defined as a concept which is involved in the moral domain, at the question:
what should I do?
In summary, Kant says that the
moral law is only that I know myself as a free person. Kantian freedom is
closely linked to the notion of autonomy, which means law itself: thus, freedom
falls obedience to a law that I created myself. It is therefore respect its
commitment to compliance with oneself.
Practical
Reason and Freedom
Practical reason legislates
(makes laws and requirements) of free beings, or more precisely the causality
of free beings. Thus, practical reason is based on freedom, it is freedom.
Phenomena, in the Kantian
thought, are subject to the law of natural causality: each event is the effect
of another, and so on to infinity. Unlike the phenomenon of man, in the moral
rule is free, ie, it has the power to self-start condition.
Kant ethics is mainly based on
the concept of free will and autonomy.
Kant
and the good will
Kant begins with the concept
of “goodwill”. For the German philosopher, intelligence, courage, etc. are not
absolutely good, because their value depends on the use made of it. It is the
same for happiness: it is not a good in itself, since it can be a source of
corruption that is not animated goodwill.
What is goodwill? This is not
a commitment that reaches its goals is a desire whose intentions are pure. What
a pure will? A will which obeys the concept of duty. Thus, goodwill is acting
out of duty.
Kant distinguishes act
according to duty and act out of duty. Thus, the merchant who loyally serves
its clients act in accordance with duty, but his motives are those of interest,
not duty. This type of action falls into one of legality, not morality. Morality
refers to any action taken in seeking to fulfill its duty:
“An action done from duty
derives its moral value, not the goal to be attained by it, but from the maxim
by which it is decided”
Kant’s formalism in ethics is
the idea that it is sufficient that applies a rule to be moral. This rule is
universality: I universalize the maxim of my action?
So, I wonder if lying is
moral, my question is: Can lying be made a universal value? The answer is
clearly no, because the truth would lose all value, and then it would be
useless to lie.
Kant
and the imperatives
Kant wants to trace the origin
a priori (not experience) the foundation of morality, because it may be that
none has ever acted out in the world. Empiricism and morality are very poor
household, one can not establish the second.
Hypothetical
imperatives
Hypothetical imperatives
represent an action as necessary to achieve a certain end. Their principle is:
who wants the end justifies the means. For example: the imperatives of power,
which prescribe the means necessary to get a result, are hypothetical. Like
those of prudence. These requirements provide rules.
Categorical
imperatives
For Kant, the categorical
imperatives differ in that they pose an action as necessary and unconditional,
irrespective of the end to reach. These requirements give laws, no matter the
inclination of the subject.
So there is only one
categorical imperative and its formula is as follows:
“Act only according to the
maxim that you might want at the same time it becomes a universal law”
The
formulas of the categorical imperative
1 / “Act as if the maxim of
your action were to be erected by your will a universal law of nature”
For example, one can not
attempt suicide and the act becomes a law of nature because it would destroy
humanity. Suicide is thus immoral. Now, what immorality? It is regarded as an
exception, agree privileges. And even when we act contrary to duty, we know where
our duty. We do not respect in this case the moral law, but it remains for us
respectable.
2 / “The subjective principle
of desire is the motive, the principle objective is the motive of duty”
We desire things and we
respect people, according to Kant. So, things have value to us as individuals
have an absolute, not relative. The subject is an end in itself:
“Act in such a way that you
treat humanity always as […] an end and never merely as means”
3 / These two options creates
a third, establishing the man as the author of morality: “Morality is the idea
of the will of every rational being designed as will establishing a universal
law”
The will is indeed
independent, it gives itself its own law. We obey the moral law because we are
giving ourselves the Act.
The moral law derives the
dignity of the person. Because giving is its own law, the man not only has a
price, that is to say a relative value, but a dignity that is to say an
intrinsic value: “Autonomy is So the principle of the dignity of human nature
and rational nature of all “.
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