Kants categorical imperative

The categorical imperative for Kant is universal, absolute and is used to work out what is morally right

Imperative = something a person MUST do
Categorical = without any doubt or possibility of being changed

Moral duties are not hypothetical, you can't opt out of them, they are what we ought to do

Maxim = personal principle that guides decisions
Morality = set of shared principles that apply to everyone
The will = our ability to make chouces and decisions based on reason

3 maxims of the categorical imperative:
MORAL RULES MUST BE UNIVERSAL
1: 'Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law without contradiction' - if you can universalise it, its not a contradiction
Emphasises the need for moral rules to be universalisable. If you're not willing for the ethical rule you follow to be applied equally to everyone - including you - then the rule is not a valid moral rule

MORAL RULES MUST RESPECT HUMAN BEINGS
2:'Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether if your own person, or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end and never merely as a means to an end' - dont use or abuse people, and treat them the same
All human beings should be treated as free and equal members of a shared and moral community. It emphasises the iportance of treating people properly. Do not treat people as a means to an end.

3: 'Therefore, every rational being must so act as if he were through his maxim always a legislating member, in the universal kingdom of ends' - dont be 'lazy', be responsible at all times

PERFECT DUTIES = NO EXCEPTION, STRICT OR RIGOROUS (INFLEXIBLE).
THESE ARE DUTIES, SUCH AS THE DUTY NOT TO COMMIT SUICIDE, WHICH ADMIT OF NO EXCEPTIONS

IMPERFECT DUTIES = DUTIES WITH ROOM FOR CHOICE OF WHEN AND WHERE (LAXER, MERITORIOUS DUTIES)
THE DUTY TO HELP PEOPLE IN NEED ADMITS OF SOME EXCEPTION - YOU HAVE CHOICE ABOUT HOW TO FULFILL THEM
THEY MUST BE PERFORMED, BUT THEY ALLOW FOR SOME ROOM FOR RATIONALITY - YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PRACTICD THE PIANO 24/7, YOU CAN CHOOSE THE TIMES YOU PRACTICE, BUT YOU HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO PRACTICE

• Not every universal maxim is a moral one - could be trivial or amoral
• Not every maxim that passes universalisibility is a duty
• Kant doesn't tell us how we distinguish between moral duties

SPEC:
-it doesn't fit in with our intuitions, there are aspects that fall clearly outside of our moral intuitions. e.g. Kants scenario where a madman with an axe outside your front door goes against moral intuitions

-it doesn't tell us how to act, it doesn't provide help in making moral decisions. When duties conflict, the categorical imperative doesn't help

CLASHING/COMPETING DUTIES - SARTRE'S CRITICISM
a young man torn between his duty to his country and most likely die (as he's in the resistance) and the duty to his mother to stay home and alive (as she already lost her other son in the war)

both these are impratives, so Kant cant offer a solution to this

a young man is torn between his duty to this country, where he'll most likely die (he is in the resistance) and to his mother, where if he stays he won't die (she lost her other son in the war)

Kant cant help here as it provides a conflict

W.D. Ross said that his theory was counter-intuative and impractical, and through a process of experience and intuition is when we build up a collection of moral principles - 'prima facie duties'

Prima facie duties include
beneficence (obligation to promote the welfare of others), non-malevolence (obligation not to harm others), justice, promise keeping etc

Hypothetical imperative = command yourself in everyday life, they are essentially optionali, and can be avoided easily

'I don't want to see the movie, I'm quite happy to not see it at all, I don't need to get there 10 minutes early'

only apply to people who want to achieve the goal to which they refer e.g. if I want to buy a new phone, then I ought to get a job, but if I dont care about having enough money to buy a new phone, then I dont need to get a new job

Morality doesn't tell us what to do on the assumption that we want to achieve a particular goal. Morality does't cpnsist of hypothetical imperatives, but categorical imperatives