Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

Kantian Ethics Arguments - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Reason demands us that we treat them as we would wish to be treated. Christian "love thy neighbour"
        
        Though reason is abstract, the feeling of empathy that supports it is not and is part of human experience every day
        
        Even though Kant demands us to act out of duty and duty only,
  - - - Guide people to act according to universal moral laws rather than personal inclinations/emotional response
  - - - Doesn't need to predict and weigh up consequences with insufficient information (e.g. Hedonic Calculus)
  - - - Which are clearly immoral acts
  - - - Huge numbers of highly specific rules
        
        Struggle to support practical decision making
  - - - Allows people to be fully human
        
        Make rational and free decisions
    - - Helping people navigate through clashing duties
    - - So long as we treat others as ends, we can be motivated by as much or little emotion as we like
- - - - Criticism : However, Maclntyre's critique of Kantian ethics highlights a potential disconnection between the 1st and 2nd categorical imperatives as the immoral acts such as stealing/lying usually treats people as means but not an end in themselves.
  - - - Shared responsibility can lead to moral ambiguity and conflicting duties. If we are responsible for others' actions in addition to our own, it becomes harder to maintain a consistent moral code.
      - Kantian ethics acknowledge that moral responsibility must be limited to what individuals can reasonably control. We can't necessarily take responsibility for others' actions that we have no control over
    - - By emphasising social interconnections, this risks blurring individual moral responsibilities and ignoring rights of minorities
  - - - e.g. impossible to ignore personal attachments in favour to abstract duties
      - This alienates individual from their own identity. Williams believed that morality should be rooted in personal values, emotions and relationships and to focus on practical wisdom and authenticity. Ethical decisions should reflect who we are and what we care about, instead of following detached rules
      - Kant isn't interested in the reason we commit the action, but so long as we treat others as ends, we can be motivated by as much or little emotion as we like (not a moral issue)
  - - - e.g. manslaughter and attempted murder still gets a punishment
        
        Society takes a balance to an extent, punishing manslaughter less than murder and punishing attempted murder due to their intentions and potential death of another person (consequentialist)