Critical Response to Kant's Moral Philosophy

Introduction

We all know that people behave in ways that they call moral at least some of the time. Morality is something we practice and discuss, so what's the best way to try to understand it? In this essay, I am exploring how Kant is trying to prove to us that we perform our actions for moral reasons. How should we act? What’s right and what is not? How does Kant want us to think?

Critical Response to Kant's Moral Philosophy

The only thing that is good without qualification is the Good Will, the will to do the right thing. Everything else can be used for good or evil, but the will to do good is always good. Consider a bartender who gets a new customer; he can give him the wrong change and save some money, but he doesn’t. He gives the customer the correct change. In this situation, Kant asks why he did that. If he did it because he was afraid of getting caught or just because it makes him happy, then that's not genuinely a good action because it was not motivated by the Good Will; it was motivated by the desire to get something else. For Kant, it's not the consequence of your action that matters so much as doing them for the right reasons. The only genuinely good actions are those you do purely out of respect for the moral law (Kant, 1785).

Doing what somebody else tells us to do can't be good because, whether it’s God, parents, or whoever, if we are just following orders, we are not acting from the Good Will. We’re just acting in anticipation of some reward or punishment. Good Will has to come from us; that's why moral reasons are so powerful and have such a hold on us. It's because they actually come from within us (Wood, 1999).

Morality as a System of Self-Imposed Rules

Morality is a system of rules that we place on ourselves. The respect for rules comes as a result of being a member of a group. For example, I respect the rules of fencing because I am a professional fencer. I respect the rules of my country because I am a citizen. Being able to listen to reasons means being rational, and Kant thought that part of being able to do that is recognizing that there are some reasons we cannot ignore and that they apply to everyone (Korsgaard, 1996).

Universalizability and Moral Law

Kant is not saying that we should only do something if it will be good for everyone to do; that is not what he’s saying. If everybody stole stuff all the time, the world would be a pretty rotten place to live. But that’s not why Kant thinks we shouldn't steal. He says that we should only act if it makes sense for us to will everybody to act in the same way. For example, lying: sometimes we might want to tell a lie, but living in a world where everybody is constantly lying would break down the concept of truth. Nobody would trust each other, and in such a world, I wouldn’t want to lie because it wouldn't give me many advantages (Allison, 2004).

Personal Reflections on Kantian Ethics

First of all, I disagree with Kant about saying that you can never have a good reason to act immorally because it’s possible to make an immoral choice for moral reasons. For example, if I lived in Nazi Germany, it would make sense to lie about the location of people in hiding to an officer who would want to exploit or kill those people. Such actions raise questions about the rigid application of Kant's moral laws (O'Neill, 1989).

Second, I agree with Kant that following people's orders blindly can’t be good because we are not acting from the Good Will. However, if we understand and agree with what the other wants us to do, then in this case, it can be good. This highlights the importance of understanding and internalizing moral laws rather than following them blindly (Hill, 2002).

Conclusion

In conclusion, Kant’s moral philosophy offers a compelling framework for understanding moral actions. His emphasis on the Good Will and the moral law challenges us to act for the right reasons. However, practical scenarios and moral dilemmas reveal the limitations and challenges of applying such a rigid framework universally.

References

• Allison, H. E. (2004). Kant's Theory of Freedom. Cambridge University Press.
• Hill, T. E. (2002). Human Welfare and Moral Worth: Kantian Perspectives. Oxford University Press.
• Kant, I. (1785). Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals.
• Korsgaard, C. M. (1996). Creating the Kingdom of Ends. Cambridge University Press.
• O'Neill, O. (1989). Constructions of Reason: Explorations of Kant's Practical Philosophy. Cambridge University Press.
• Wood, A. W. (1999). Kant's Ethical Thought. Cambridge University Press.