Analysis of Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals by Kant Emmanuel and James W Ellington - Research Paper Example

Kant Essay A pregnant woman went into a coma shortly after experiencing labor pains. The doctors on duty could not immediately contact her husband or any relations about the development. After an assessment of the situation, the doctors certified the woman’s condition as urgent and one that required abortion in order to save the life of the mother. Time was of the essence as the woman’s condition continued to deteriorate despite the application of certain remedial measures. According to standard practice, the doctors required the assent of the next of kin in order to perform the dangerous experiment. After several futile attempts to contact the family members, the doctors decided to proceed with the abortion with the intention of rescuing the life of the mother. The operation went on successfully as the fetus was aborted. However, both the woman and her family members expressed their disappointment in the loss of the child and vowed to sue the doctors and the hospitals for what they deemed as professional negligence. Attempts by the hospital administration to explain the difficult situation in which the doctors found themselves failed to calm down the irate family members. According to their culture, abortion is a taboo and should not be performed under all circumstances. The family members implied that they would have preferred the woman to die in her own efforts to give birth rather than performing an abortion. The issue elicited sharp responses on both sides of the abortion debate. Much of the arguments were focused on the moral question of rescuing a mother in danger and the necessity of performing an abortion that led to the death of the child. In the Grounding of Metaphysics of Morals, Emmanuel Kant expounds on his philosophical perspective on the principles of morality by providing specific frameworks about the nature of morality. Kant makes a significant effort in replacing the cultural assessment of moral principles by his alternative perspective that is grounded in logic (Kant and James 40). He seeks to provide critical tools for use in certifying certain actions as moral by basing them measuring them against consequences and motives. According to his position, actions can only be described as moral if indeed some specific moral laws motivated them. As such, actions that appear as moral but which were caused by some instinct or desire cannot be qualified as moral actions. The motivating principle that underpins moral actions must be the moral law, which according to Kant has a universal characteristic (Kant and James 34). The comprehension of this law is by means of intuition that naturally occurs among people. In this sense, Kant argued that moral laws are absolute and are not determined by circumstances. A significant factor in Grounding is the adoption of categorical imperative that infuses reason within the element of morality. In this regard, it becomes appropriate to consider the fact that Kant’s perspective of morality requires people to act in ways that could elevate their motivating principles into universal laws. Kant argues that it is not possible to obtain knowledge of things in themselves. At the same time he argued that the freedom of will may not be determined by reason alone. There cannot be any proof or disapproval of its existence. Therefore, understanding things in themselves would be defeated by the limits of tools of reason or senses as projected in the natural human faculties. The concept that defines freedom of the will, according to Kant can be used to explain morality and moral principles. The determination of morality as spelt out in Kant’s Grounding of Metaphysics of Morals is an activity that requires some deeper assessment of facts as they relate to motive and causes. Causal relationships between actions are ultimately reducible into some fundamental principles of logic. The task of determining the trends in the processes and activities of certain actions can only be determined through a precise assessment of the motives that compelled the human motives that determine the causes of actions. Motives are the fundamental issues that regulate the character of agents as considered within the overall framework of metaphysics of morals. Certain activities lend themselves to moral considerations due to their association with traditions and accepted practices of human societies. However, the problematic aspect of determining morals within cultural and traditional associations can be understood from the relative nature of cultural frameworks. Assigning cultural effects on morality would ultimately deny them the universal qualities, which Kant describes as fundamental. Generally, an assessment of grounding could begin with an understanding of the intellectual climate within which Kant developed his ideas and perspectives of universal morality. Kant’s philosophy thrived in the eighteenth century. He made significant impact to the school of enlightenment by insisting on the primacy of reason above mythology in the assessment of morality. His postulations on morality could be considered as a sum of his rejection of the traditional order that had elevated tradition, custom, and dogma some esteem that led to the wholesale purchase of generational knowledge and assessments into future generations. The decision of the doctors to intervene in rescuing the life of a woman in peril can be considered as a moral question. This is because the protection of life is a fundamental aspect that requires the determination of a range of factors that effectively connect with the subject of morality. Within Kant’s perspective, the doctors’ decision should be assessed alongside the moral law on which it was based. The doctors actions can be regarded within the aspect of categorical imperative. The moral aspect of their actions was based on the fact of rescuing a mother whose life was in real danger. The doctors professionally assessed the condition of the pregnant woman and agreed that an urgent operation had to be conducted to rescue the life of the woman. In this regard, the termination of pregnancy can be understood from the point of view of achieving a higher moral goal. The doctors arrived at their decision through logical assessment of the situation. As such the decisions of the doctors meet the threshold of morality and motive as spelt out by Kant in Grounding. On this score, it might be argued that any other medic who finds himself in a similar situation can embrace the actions of the doctors. The protection of life a patient under one’s care is a primary responsibility. The doctors had the obligation to overrule any other consideration in the pursuit of the life of the pregnant woman. Cultural factors are secondary to the objective of protecting life. The morality of performing an abortion should be assessed primarily from the point of view of the universal moral law of the sanctity of human life as perceived from the dimension of the pregnant woman. Works Cited Kant, Emmanuel and James W. Ellington. Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company. 1993. Read More