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Chapter 10: The Categorical Imperative
- Kant argues that the moral worth of an action consists solely in the
- principle that motivates it and not in any consequences that might
- follow from it. A morally valid principle is one that can serve as a
- universal law, applicable to all at any time or in any place, without
- resulting in a contradiction. Such a principle is "categorical" (as
- opposed to "hypothetical"); it enjoins an action that is good of itself
- and not merely as a means to another end. Because humanity, in oneself
- or in others, is of absolute worth, Kant is able to give the categorical
- imperative a second formulation: So act that you use humanity,
- whether in your own person or in the person of any other, always at the
- same time as an end, never merely as a means.
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Moral worth
- An action's quality of being morally praiseworthy
- or blameworthy; determined solely by the principle that motivates the
- action and not by any of the consequences that potentially or actually
- follow from it.
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Hypothetical imperative
Command of reason that recommends some action as necessary to achieve some desired objective.
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First formulation of the categorical imperative
Act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law.
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Second formulation of the categorical imperative
- Act in such a way that you use humanity, whether in
- your own person or in the person of any other, always at the same time
- as an end, never merely as a means.
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End in itself
- Something that has absolute worth, that possesses
- value in its own right rather than mere usefulness as a means of
- achieving some goal external to itself.
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