Specific Moral Duties in the Kantian Deontological Moral System - beyond the Age of Reason - Essay Example

Specific Moral Duties in the Kantian Deontological Moral System - beyond the Age of Reason. Moral duties should satisfy a priori principles of morality. They are fulfilled by actions wrought by the deliberate use of the natural human capacity for rational thought and moved by will educated by reason. Moral actions require deliberate rational deliberation and are not moved by mere inclination of the senses. This is emphasized by Kantian morality. Immanuel Kant left behind a system of ethical philosophy, according to which an action which is both an end in itself and motivated by categorical imperative is the foundation of moral philosophy if moved by free elective will. Categorical imperative requires reason to dictate the act we are morally obligated to do, one which is motivated by adherence to the consistent principle which could be applied to all and any rational agent. This deontological ethical distinguishes between the moral doctrines of right from that of virtue. Where the first is driven externally to the actor, the other is internal and concerned with ends. This essay will discuss on the latter. Circumscribing what end is - Kant required of a rational human being that he makes the object of his elective will his end. Kant is very much concerned with ends which at the same time are duties and not with ends due to impulses of the senses or subjective/technical ends. The former are for him objective/moral ends and rests on a priori principles. For Kant, a rational human being is a moral person, fully conscious of his moral duty or duties and deriving deliberate decisions using the metaphysical moral framework. The mere possession of capacity for rationality is nothing compared to its exercise and fulfillment in action. All of this is built upon the foundation of good will or universal good or good unqualified/unconditional and autonomous which he laid down in Groundwork. The Kantian moral system emphasize the performance of moral duty motivated by a priori principle recognized by reason and not from desire of expected consequence or emotional attachment or aversion because duty or end based on sensual inclinations is conditional. It is the role of reason to give fruition to a good will.1 Duty and right are the motivations of good will; aspects of good will, if you may. Groundwork portrays the search for the supreme principle of morality. It sets aside matters that are recognizable by the reader from everyday experience and conceives its subject to be a priori and metaphysical. I think Kant expect the reader to do the exercise of applying the test and criteria he laid down. Kant's recognition of will as separate from reason shows his recognition of actions and ends which are derived from will alone or that derived from a conjunction of will and reason. Reason alone cannot achieve the intended result. Obviously, "will" alone can only get conditional results unlike a real concurrence of will and reason or the good will. Groundwork does not really explain the manner and contents Kant conceives an a priori principles system to have. He takes this matter for granted and leaves too much room for the reader to speculate. Nothing in it describes what metaphysical structure duties should have. The universality test as a method of weighing duties is Kant's significant contribution to moral reasoning but Kant barely seemed to use it in his writings. Kant's method is to determine the universal law of morality applicable to all rational beings at all cases.2 He must have conceived of his writings as a workbook with which readers must work and apply as they go along; a veritable inter-active philosophical work for that matter. For Kant, the duties to perfect one's self and to promote the happiness of others are moral motives and ends in themselves, including that to avoid suicide and self-mutilation. The supreme moral index of autonomous good will identified in Groundwork is broken down in MetaMorals into specific moral duties. For Kant, doing one's duty is its own incentive, even for wide obligations such as those of virtue. He classifies these duties as one to the self and another to others. One's duty to the self is perfection in natural/material and moral aspects. One's duty to others is for their happiness but not to impose their perfection. Kant expounds by one's obligation to oneself by confirming the impulses of nature for the preservation of the self, the species and the capacity to enjoy life. In contrast, enumerated are the vices which weaken one's capacity for making purposive use of one's powers, these are suicide, sexual addiction and gluttony. On a moral level, in relation to one's duty to self, man must live consistent with the maxims of the will with the dignity of his humanity in his person by prohibiting the depriving of his prerogatives as a moral being by acting in accordance with his inner freedom and not a mere toy of his own inclinations. To emphasize the importance of one's duties to self, Kant pointed out that it is also a duty to other people and to God such that suicide cannot be allowed or even just the degeneration of one's faculties by vice and self-abuse. On one's obligations to others, there are those which are performed on the merit of the duties alone and those which are owed to others. Kant emphasized that love for others in this case is not based on mere feelings but on the delight of their worth and happiness and making their ends your own not in the sense of sharing their pain but in empathy or "direct sympathy"3 as used in the text. Every human being is duty bound to give respect to his fellow, indulging them dignity that cannot be used as a means by other human beings at any price. This duty to others is absolute and an end in itself that makes Kant's moral philosophy one of the noblest existing systems despite of its practical faults. Human dignity is its highest ideal in an uncompromising manner. The actions of the autonomous good will, the supreme principle of morality, satisfy the three criteria given by Kant and so should actions or ends of duties/maxims be made in their regard. The three criteria are as follows: 1) The moral worth of the action/end from duty/maxim is unconditional; 2) The moral worth does not stem from its effects; and 3) A duty is the necessity of an action from respect of the law. Maxims are principle of action/ends because they play a role in their (referring to the action) generation. Kant proposed that an action done from duty or maxim is determined objectively by law or principle and subjectively by respect for the law or principle. There is conjunction among action/end and maxim because a practical law or principle requires it. Duty to life is a virtue comprising of duty to self-perfection for the happiness of others. The practical principle behind this is the purpose of life which is the perfection of the human being, physically and spiritually. All actions based on this law is morally worthy in itself and not from its effects. The same logic goes for the corresponding duties, which duties necessitate action based on respect for the said law or principle. Life, in the individual and the species, should be preserved pursuant to the law, so should the physical, emotional and spiritual integrity and capacity for life. In line of this thought, psychological well-being and physical health are valid goals which reject abuse (including death and physical, psychological and spiritual injuries) and degeneration of self and others. In Groundwork, Kant spoke of life and happiness as part of the nature of a being with reason and will but explains that reason alone may not achieve happiness, so with will alone. Duty, however, is an aspect of good will and the doing of action for duty's sake is moral action. Duty to maintain life is one that everyone is inclined to do as the duty requires, not necessarily because duty requires. In this sense, there is moral worth to action in its pursuit. This foundation being laid at this point, Kant expounds more on duty and right in MetaMorals. By the time one gets to MetaMorals without one's own proclivities getting in the way, Kant's views on duty becomes ingrained and made part of the reader's vision. MetaMorals expands the duty initially discussed in Groundwork. He does not bother to apply the tests given in Groundwork because he seems to expect the reader to have already made the practice as part of his moral life. As can be seen from his writings, Kant does not approach moral philosophy using guilt manipulations but on the development of the strength of the independent will. His emphasis is on moral uprightness for its own sake because by its mere exercise one is strengthened and dignified. Its effects can be foreseen in the strengthening not only of the individual, but also of the community and the State in a manner that when further strengthened by the entrainment of its consistent performance and advocacy the morality of the whole will improve. Kant's logic and arguments are not immune to criticism but the heart embraces him without hesitation because he goes directly to the heart of the matter. Bibliography Kant, Immanuel. Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, Broadview, 2005. Read More