Moral Laws of Immanuel Kant Essay

Immanuel Kant was German philosopher and one of the most influential philosophers as far as the history of the west is concerned (Reath, 1989). He is famously known for his tremendous contributions and achievements in various works such as Foundations of Metaphysics of Morals and Critique of Pure Reason. Kant came up with an ethics theory called Moral Law which relied on reason as opposed to the emotions. This law basically refers to the feeling of obligation to which the will inside us usually responds. There is a pull towards a moral sense that Kant note each one of us possesses by the virtue of rational freedom (Reath, 1989). The moral law does not emanate from outside and as Kant asserts, the moral law is not directly related to God's commands. The moral law is, therefore, the rational will which follows the impartiality as well as the universality of the aspect of reason.

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Kant was not against any religious beliefs but he desired an ethical system that was not Kant was not anti-religious but he wanted an ethical system that was not overshadowed by religion, emotion or personal interpretation (McCarty, 1993). Kant holds that morality is a function of reason and is premised on our consciousness of necessity and universal laws (Reath, 2013). He acknowledged that laws give rise to duties and act on the basis of duty is to act merely out of respect for the law. Kant's philosophy on morality rests on important perceptions of the moral law, goodwill, and moral duty. Good is essentially the primary basis on which ethical theory and morality can be debated. According to (Colman, 2013), the moral law is universal, is an obligation and binding to everyone.

The notion of duty addresses the moral obligation of humans as a result of reason and acting for the sake of an obligation of duty. The moral law is a core issue in the philosophy of Kant. It illustrates the absolute good which individuals are aware of. This kind of awareness depends on practical reasoning and thus leading to a differentiation of what is a good action and what is a bad action in itself(Kant, 2012)For Kant, philosophy is not actually pegged on what man what actually engage in but rather what he ought to do given some circumstances. The moral law is therefore based on a priori, in the sense that it is impossible to base what man ought to do by determining whether he should do so or not (Kant, 2017). It is also evident that Kant is keen to find a universal ethical hypothesis where all humankind can aspire to achieve. According to McCarty, (1993), Kant's enquiry is to find out the origin in the practical form of the fundamental principles on which people use to judge when they choose to judge morally.

The categorical imperative is connected to unconditional commands which bond each individual at some given time. It is useful at all times because it states that one must regularly exercise for instance one ought, to tell the truth at all times. The categorical imperative emanates from the tenet that establishes that we must act in line with the moral laws which are applied universally. An example is considering that what is just for one is just for all. It is thus a universal moral requirement that indicates what someone ought to do. As Kant, (1998) asserts, the hypothetical imperative originates from the if-then doctrine that states that if someone needs something to have then they must will something else to occur. It is premised on the basic necessity of an action and not really morally founded. Kant differentiates between actions initiated in line with duty and actions done for the purpose of duty. Those actions made in regard to duty are actions which hold moral worth. Kant argues that goodwill is the only absolute good in this world. By the argument, he meant that alternative motives are not enough when the issue of morality is to be addressed. It is thus illogical to regard and action to be morally upright if it contributes to harming the greater good.

Praise as a result of actions of a moral duty is only permitted if the action applied reason to guide the actions of doing that duty. Praise must never be an incentive to perform a moral duty. It is evident that duty is grounded on the ability and capacity of someone to do the right thing always. However, there are some unclear issues on Kant's moral philosophy (Reath, 2013).An illustration of this is where a murderer ask for the whereabouts of the next victim and in following the moral law, one would be obliged to disclose the location. Putting human nature into perspective, one would indeed not abide by the law of morality. A question will be raised therefore on the usefulness of moral law and moral duty in with regards to human honesty. In such a case, one may stick behave in such a way as to conflict with Kant's law of morality but still remains within the moral duty, but for the law to operate, one must never deviate under any circumstances(Reath, 2013). Thus someone has to disclose the location of a victim to the murder with full consciousness. In this case, the moral law and moral duty lie on the hands of human nature. From this, we derive that it does not matter the action that is taken, to comply with the moral duty, one has to stick to the moral law. For Kant, most everything occurs according to prescribed laws and consequently human can act to conform to the same (Kerner, 1990).

The moral act is that which operates on the intentions of moral law by use of reason as opposed to primitive inclinations. Truth is an essential element of the moral duty and it cannot be affected by inclinations lie of any form is harmful to humanity even if benefits are derived for the common good. This is because it alters the reputation that moral laws stand on. The objective of the moral will is often the greater good and the goodwill is attributable to the moral law out of respect for good itself (Kant, 1998). Reason can be used in order to establish what is morally upright as inclinations are poor in determining the good for goodness sake. Kant metaphorically compares acting based on the inclination to the instincts of primitive animals where human depend on basic primitive actions. Hunger, for instance, is a natural inclination which does not require the use of high-level reasoning.

Kant view reasoning as a higher human faculty as reasoning is described as the ability of humans to make rational decisions (Kant, 2012).Because moral duty is perceived as natural, reasoning should be utilized to provide a clear distinction between human beings and animals. Kant asserts that a captivation of desires is a very primitive form of life (Reath, 2013). The goodwill is not established from the good it achieves but is based on human reasoning capabilities to appreciate and respects the moral duty.

References

Kant, I. (1997). Critique of practical reasoning.

Kant, I. (1998). Critique of pure reason. Cambridge University Press.

Kant, I. (2012). Fundamental principles of the metaphysics of morals. Courier Corporation.

Kant, I. (2017). Kant: The metaphysics of morals. Cambridge University Press.

McCarty, R. R. (1993). Kantian moral motivation and the feeling of respect. Journal of the History of Philosophy, 31(3), 421-435.

Reath, A. (1989). Kant's Theory of Moral Sensibility. Respect for the Moral Law and the Influence of Inclination. Kant-Studien, 80(1-4), 284-302.

Reath, A. (2013). Kant's conception of autonomy of the will.