Kant’s Categorical Imperative Essay Example for Free

Kant’s Categorical Imperative Essay This paper tackles the categorical imperative theory of Immanuel Kant as well as its first and second formulations and how they apply to a particular case of infidelity. Introduction In his Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant defines an imperative as any proposition that declares a certain action or inaction to be necessary and practical (Kant, 1993, p. 413). The categorical imperative is a type of imperative which states what one ought to do under certain circumstances and it implies the moral requirement that we should act directly and unconditionally in order to achieve some end or purpose (p. 417). In the Groundwork, Kant distinguishes between the hypothetical imperative and the categorical imperative. The hypothetical imperative states that if one wants to do A, then he should do B, or he may choose not to do B or even A (p. 414). On the other hand, the categorical imperative requires that if one wants to do A, then he really ought to do B. It therefore follows that doing B is of an absolute necessity, is considered a moral duty, and is unconditional (p. 420). An Ethical Situation and the Action Taken The situation that is to be considered for the analysis is that of a young man who has a girlfriend and who once swore to love her and only her and not to cheat on her in whatever way especially by having flings with another girl. For many months he has kept this promise in order to make her happy and make the relationship work. However, one day this young man just happens to get to know one extremely beautiful young girl on Facebook, a girl who is more beautiful than his own girlfriend judging from the same standards. After a few secret exchanges of messages on the same social networking site, the young man meets up with her without telling anyone and they have a date that ended up in a sexual encounter. Evaluation of the Situation Based on the First Formulation For any imperative to be a categorical imperative or a true moral proposition, Kant proposes that this imperative should possess universality. This means that it must not concern itself with the particular physical details and circumstances surrounding the present situation, including the seemingly most pressing instinctual needs of the individual on which the ethical situation is focused. Kant therefore states that there is only one categorical imperative and it is this: â€Å"Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law† (p. 421). In the situation, the young man clearly does not obey the categorical imperative when he decides to exchange messages with the girl on Facebook and later on meet up with her. If the young man made a promise of loyalty, then it is his moral duty to do so (p. 422). This means that if the notion of promising to be faithful to one’s lover and breaking it is universalized, then, based on the first formulation of the categorical imperative, there would be no promises at all and no such thing as honest oaths between lovers. The young man is therefore, according to Kant, never justified in the infidelity that he committed. Evaluation of the Situation Based on the Second Formulation Another characteristic of the categorical imperative is that it should not only be a principle but that it should also be an end in itself, unlike a hypothetical imperative on which many human moral decisions are based. Thus, if a hypothetical imperative goes like, â€Å"If you want to do A, you should do B,† the categorical imperative should go like, â€Å"Do B,† for doing B is an end in itself and not a means to any other end like A. Kant therefore states, â€Å"Act in such a way that you treat humanity†¦always at the same time as an end and never merely as a means to an end† (p. 428). In our situation, the young man, based on the second formulation, has clearly violated the categorical imperative and this violation lies in the young man’s making an oath of faithfulness to his girlfriend in order to make her happy and to make the relationship work. According to the second formulation, if you have made a promise in order to make someone happy and to make the relationship work, then you are not acting out of moral duty; because if you are, then you will have made such a promise as an end in itself. The young man should have made the promise of loyalty just out of pure reverence for promise itself in exactly the same way as one decides to love not for the happiness of the other but for the sake of love itself. For Kant and the categorical imperative, true morality is doing one’s moral duty without concerning himself with the results (p. 417). The young man in the situation tried to concern himself with the results. Owing to this, his promise was therefore not purely made and such a fact may have even been the reason behind his subsequent immoral act. Conclusion Kant teaches us that an action is good and moral not because it is based on reason as what the rationalists contend nor because it has good results as what the utilitarians say, but that it is done in obedience to an inner sense of duty – the categorical imperative. According to this principle and based on the scenario presented, one should make a promise of love and keep it because the fulfillment of a promise is universal. One should also keep a promise of love not for any other reason such as the happiness of the other but for the sake of the promise itself, for true moral duty is self-sufficient and does not concern itself with results. References Kant, I. (1993). Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals. Translated by James W. Elington. 3rd ed. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. , 413-428.

Symphonic Imagery in Emily Brontes Wuthering Heights :: Wuthering Heights Essays

The elder Catherine and Heathcliff shared a fantastic loyalty untempered by any civilization. Their dedication to one another to the exclusion of all other society is alluring, but unworkable in real life. In the end, their unchecked ardor is consumed by its own fire: Catherine wastes away on Thrushcross Grange, and Heathcliff turns his thwarted passion on everyone who reminds him of what he has lost. Heathcliff and the elder Catherine seem to despise reading -- Catherine does say, after all, that she took her "dingy volume by the scroop, and hurled it into the dog-kennel, vowing I hated a good book" [Chapter III, page 26]. The real objects of their resentment, however, are the moral and religious lessons that are forced upon them via books as punishment for being naughty children. To chastise them for going out on the moors, "The curate might set as many chapters as he pleased for Catherine to get by heart, and Joseph might thrash Heathcliff till his arm ached. . ." [VI, 50] Reading and memorizing Scripture passages is placed by Joseph on the same level with a beating: an attempt to tame a wild soul. Catherine and Heathcliff will not be tamed, and so they reject learning, as well. This should not be construed as a condemnation of education, but against the passionless Christian value system of pity and duty and charity that Heathcliff later rails against. The evening that he sleeps at Wuthering Heights, Lockwood is troubled by a dream of Jabes Branderham, author of one of the holy tracts that Catherine was forced to read. [III, 28-9] Branderham manifests himself as a creature both horrible and boring at the same time. When Lockwood finally denounces the preacher, the congregation tears him apart. Sleeping in Catherine's bed, Lockwood is having her nightmares, seeing religion as a terrible force that promises to civilize but actually turns people into zombies obsessed with correcting the sins of others -- and that force converts through reading. When Lockwood awakens, he blocks Catherine's ghost's entrance to her home by piling religious tomes against the window, just as Joseph attempted to stifle her with them in life. She still pushes against these books, intent on her longing to enter. Nellie says of Catherine in adulthood that "she never endeavored to divert herself with reading." [XV, 153] When Edgar brings a book to her in her malaise, Catherine does not touch it, only allows the wind to flutter its leaves.

A Time I Was Brave

I have often been a fraidy cat about the simplest things. I remember back when I was a child and being frightened of leaving home to go to school — it was as if I feared that my family would not be there when I got back from school or that I wouldn’t know what to do in school. All my life I’ve had similar fears about many things — being able to do a good job and succeed at my work, worrying whether I’d grow up to become an independent individual who could stand on his own two feet. And, each time with each new worry, I would somehow find a way to master my fears so that they wouldn’t interfere with my life. I didn’t want to lead a life of fear, I wanted instead a life of joy and accomplishment and for the most part that is what I was able to achieve — although it never was easy for me. I do believe that deep down each of us is brave in different ways and in different situations. For example, there is the person who saves another person’s life, such as when someone falls off the subway platform and the other person rescues him. Then there is the person who finds the courage to leave his or her country in order to go to another land and start a new life. That person is very brave, too, because starting a new life in a strange land and with a different language is very, very difficult. Then there’s the person who is very shy, but who leaves the house in the morning to try to find a job and make a living. He somehow overcomes his fear. There is the mother or father who works very long hours at a hard job in order to earn money to help support the family. That person is very brave, too. There is also the person who is afraid of the local bully, but gathers his or her courage to stand up to the bully and tell him off. So tell me about your own life and the time when you were brave. What was the brave deed or act you did? How did you feel – frightened or confident? Was it hard for you to be brave? Or, if you wish, write about someone you know who has done a brave deed. Tell me who that person is and what he or she did. Remember, too, that being a writer is a brave thing to do — it shows you are willing to think deeply about important things and express them in words that may be read and heard.

Essay on The Introduction of Prohibition - 661 Words

The Introduction of Prohibition Prohibition was introduced in 1920 as part of an amendment to the Constitution of the USA. It was introduced for a variety of different reasons including a wartime concern for preserving grain for food rather than for brewing and distilling. There were also feelings against the German-Americans, who were responsible for brewing and distilling, at a time when America was at war against Germany which also let the Anti-Saloon league influence the general public before the main objectors, the men, returned home. Even though there are many reasons for the introduction of prohibition there was only one main consequence. It created the greatest criminal boom in American†¦show more content†¦They said that buying alcohol would benefit the Germans and you would be being disloyal to your country to purchase something that would benefit the ‘enemy’. Nevertheless, this would not stop the large population of German-Americans buying the alcohol along with many other Americ ans who had come to America from other countries. An additional consideration that led people in the belief that prohibition would succeed was the cost of alcohol so people may have used the law as an opportunity to give up alcohol without seeming odd to others. Moreover, this problem would not prevent wealthy Americans from trying to purchase alcohol because they had the money to do it without sending their family into the downwards spiral of poverty. Also, to begin with the level of enforcement for the law was so high that even if people did not support the law, the prohibition commissioners could have worked hard to dispose of alcohol whilst gathering support. 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