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Kant Formula of Humanity - Coggle Diagram

- - - - It depends on the idea that humans are rational beings, worthy of dignity and respect. Morality is about respecting persons as ends instead of means.
        
        This idea inspired
        
        18th century revolutionaries "Right of Man"
        
        21st century's universal human rights
- - - - not based on divine authority either
    - - between capacity to reason and and capacity for freedom
        
        every person is worthy of respect because we are rational beings (Capable of reason)
        
        we also have the capacity to feel pleasure and pain
        
        reason can be sovereign
        
        when reason governs will, we are not ruled by the desire to seek pleasure and avoid pain
        
        our capacity to reason is bound with our capacity for freedom
- - - - when behavior is biologically determine or socially conditioned , the behavior is not truly free
        
        Freedom to Kant is acting autonomously, a law given to oneself that is not dictated by nature or social convention
  - - - falling from the Empire State building and landing on and killing a person is not the faller's moral responsibility because he was dictated by gravity not himself
- - - - A maxim is a rule or principle that gives reason for our actions.
      - We should act only on universalized principles, ones that cannot be contradicted.
      - Ex. Should I borrow money I'm in desperate need of but know I can't pay back?
        If everyone made false promises to pay back the money, then no one would lend out money because they know it would be a lie. Therefore, promises would be non existent.
        "Universalizing the false promise would undermine the institution of promise-keeping."
        
        I should not borrow money because I am putting my own selfish desires before everyone else's, violating the trust of a promise
    - - Basing moral law on interests, purposes, or ends is relative only to one person, it is not universal
      - Humanity is an absolute value, and end in itself. This is what we should base moral laws on.
      - People vs. Things
        
        People are rational beings and have intrinsic value: dignity. Unlike inanimate objects or animals, humans have more than relative value.
    - - Hypothetical Imperatives: If you want X, then do Y.
      - Ex. If you want a good reputation among your classmates, then help and treat them well.
      - If you do an action as a means to something else, then your imperative is hypothetical VS. If you do an action for the sake of inherent goodness unconditionally, you're imperative is categorical.
      - Being truly free means acting out of a categorical imperative. You are not bound by a means to an end.