Philosophy About Kant Term Paper

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Kant's Critique Of Practical Reason And Other Writing On The Theory Of Ethics

Kant's article on practical reason on the theory of ethics draws heavily from deontological ethics. To make the term understandable from the layman's point-of-view, deontological ethics is simply the study of moral obligation. This implies duties that a person must perform in the course of his relationship with others or to put it simply, duties that an individual is expected to perform if he is to lead a quiet and peaceful existence. This implies duties a person must exercise for himself, towards his fellowmen, towards country, towards God. Basic to this article is the supreme principle of morality which underlie the reason for all rules of ethics and the concomitant duties that an individual must perform.

Taken broadly, duties are actions that are mandatory - in other words required and must perforce be done. Some philosophers through like Grotius feel that our ultimate duties are fixed features of the universe, which cannot be changed even by God and these are part and parcel of natural law.

The Law of Traditional Duty Theory

On the Law of Nature and of Nations, we all have rights and everybody has a duty to respect that right: Pufendorf feels that duties are more important than rights.

Perfect duties are obligations precisely defined such as you have a duty not to steal. Imperfect duties are not fixed like the duty to be charitable.

All duties to others are the most basic since this must follows the mandate of natural law that we are to be sociable. Towards God, we have a theoretical duty to know the existence and nature of God and a practical duty to worship God, both internally and externally.

Towards ourselves, we have duties of the soul which means developing one's skills and talents and duties of the body which means not neglecting our bodies through gluttony or drunkenness and not killing oneself.

Concerning duties towards others these are "divided into absolute duties which are binding on people and conditional duties which are the result of contract between people.

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Absolute duties should be to avoid wronging others, treating people as equals and promoting the good of others. First of the rules is to keep one's promises.

The idea of suicide foists a question of it being a transgression of our duty either to God, our neighbor or ourselves.

A person has a direct duty to respect others. Other people are entitled to respect but it is an indirect duty we owe to dead bodies - dead bodies are not entitled to respect but that creates ill-feeling with the living relatives of the dead person.

Problem with Traditional Duty Theory

The existence and nature of God are widely and openly questioned now. Therefore it becomes a matter of conjecture whether we have a set of duties toward God. Advocates of personal liberty question the traditional duties to ourselves. For instance, the right to suicide or euthanasia is now widely defended and the right to self-rule or autonomy means that I can let my faculties and abilities weaken and deteriorate if I so choose. Also many of our duties to others have also been under question. Defenders of personal liberty question our duties of benevolence, such as charity, political duties such as public duties. The long list of duties to others can be summed up as follows: do not harm others.

Another issue is there is no clear procedure for resolving conflicts between duties. Supposing I must choose between feeding myself to avoid starvation, or feeding my neighbor to keep her from starving. Consequentialist theories provide a clear formula for resolving this conflict. The morally correct choice is the one which produces the greatest benefit (either to myself or to society at large). Traditional duty does not prescribe a rule for deciding which obligation is primary. Otherwise it remains questionable.

Kant adopts the distinction between perfect/imperfect duties and direct/indirect duties. He also endorses the distinction between duties to oneself and duties to others, although he….....

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