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The Categorical Imperative - Coggle Diagram
The Categorical Imperative
Maxims
Maxims are general rules of behaviour which can be applied to a situation.
'Never lie', 'always help people in need', etc
We can use maxims to moderate our behaviour and identify what to do when faced with moral dilemmas
Imperative: authoritative command or instruction
Categorical Imperative
Moral rules are examples of the categorical imperative
Categorical Imperative:basic test for identifying morally praiseworthy maxims of an action, is unconditional and always applies
Moral decisions will involve the categorical imperative because the defining feature of moral imperatives is that they are categorical in nature
Like commands that apply equally and universally to everyone in a similar situation, e.g. always keep your promises
Ultimate categorical imperative - a second-order principle that helps us to identify what maims to follow
It's second-order because it's not a test to distinguish good and bad actions, but a test that distinguishes first-order principles or maxims.
The categorical imperative is a test we must apply to all maxims to check if they are genuinely moral
Hypothetical Imperative
Hypothetical Imperative: a conditional statement, e.g. if you want B, then do A
Non-moral rules are examples of the categorical imperative
e.g. if you want to eat then make dinner
Duty:
Perfect - a perfect duty always hold true- there is a perfect duty to always tell the truth, so we must never lie.
Imperfect - an imperfect duty allows flexibility- generosity is an imperfect duty because we are not obliged to be completely generous all the time and place in which we are
In a conflict between duties, perfect trumps imperfect