Immanuel Kant was a German Enlightenment philosopher, most famously known for his moral philosophy. He argued that we could discern moral laws just as we perceive laws of nature.
Kant’s basis for his work in moral philosophy is deontological ethics, or the belief that the ethics of an action lie in the duty behind the action rather the consequences. He argued that our reasoning capacity is what enables us to act morally, and because liberty enables us to act on our reasoning, we have a primary duty to respect this capacity in every human being. According to Kant, people deserve respect because the are human beings with capacity for reason, not because of what they do or who they are. This universal moral obligation requires that we treat individuals as ends in themselves and never as solely as a means to attain other goals, as this would undermine a person’s autonomy and rationality. This leads us to Kant’s theory of the categorical imperative.
The categorical imperative evaluates the motivation behind an action and can be broken down into three maxims:
- A person acts morally if he/she believes this action would be right for everyone at all times
- Conduct is moral if it treats others as an end in themselves instead of an end to a means
- A person acts morally if he/she acts as though his/her actions were establishing a universal law governing similar situations
“Nothing in the world—indeed nothing even beyond the world—can possibly be conceived which could be called good without qualification except a good will.” – Immanuel Kant
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Source: Plaisance, Patrick L. Media Ethics: Key Principles for Responsible Practice. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, 2009. Print.
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