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Introduction
According to Immanuel Kant, the humans are the most privileged of all creation
mainly because human beings are the only creation with the ability to reason. Morality,
according to Kant is aggregated into a single vital commandment, the reason or
imperative commandment from which each and every obligation and duty derive. Kant
described an imperative to be any suggestion, which proclaims an inaction or action to be
essential. An imperative that is hypothetical forces action under certain circumstances:
should someone desire to quench his or her thirst, that person has to drink something. On
the other hand, an imperative that is categorical symbolizes an unconditional or an
absolute requirement, which affirms its authority in each and every situation whether
justified or required as a conclusion in itself. Therefore, an act that is morally right is one
that is right for any individual in a similar situation to the ones of other individuals who
would also execute the same act unconditionally in accordance with the universal
principles that respect individuals intrinsically instead of each pursuing their own ends
(Kemerling, Para 2).
The life of Immanuel Kant
Kant was born on 22nd April 1724, and died on 12th February 1804; he was a great
German philosopher of the 18th century. Kant is in fact the modern Europe’s last
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philosopher with great influence in the typical series of knowledge theory during the
period of enlightenment starting with thinkers such as David Hume, George Berkeley and
John Locke. Kant through his work generated an extensive view in the world of
philosophy, which over the years it has continued to have a lot of influence on philosophy
even in the current 21st century. Kant published works of great importance on
epistemology, and works related to history, law and religion. The pure reason critique is
one of the greatest works done by Kant. The critique is an examination into the structure
and limitations of reason. He argues the reasoning of human beings makes them to desire
acting ethically (Ross, Para 3).
In his younger years, Immanuel portrayed a lot of interest in studying. At first he
was taken to study in Collegium Fredericianum before being enrolled at Konigsberg
University, the place where he spent the whole of his career. Kant studied Wolf and
Leibniz philosophy under Knutzen who was a rationalist quite knowledgeable with the
developments in both science and British philosophy; he is the person who introduced
Immanuel to Newton’s mathematical physics concepts (Ross, Para 4).
The early work of Kant came when he was already fifty years old, even though it
is correct that Kant did much of his work later in life, there is some propensity of
underestimating his earlier work’s value. His later works mainly emphasized on various
fields in philosophy. In these later works, he greatly revised the works that he had done
earlier in life and thus refined them and gave these works more meaning. Among his
greatest works is the moral philosophy in which he argues that human beings have a great
desire of doing things that are right and they are thus moral and ethical (Ross, Para 5).
Kant’s philosophy of morality
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Starting with the concept of what is perceived to be right without the need of good
will, the morality of humans is purely governed by the will of acting right. Human beings
enjoy various good features and good life benefits, Immanuel noted that these features
have a lot of value under suitable conditions, because it is possible for them to be used for
either evil or good. He however pointed out that the will of doing the right thing is
intrinsically good. The value it posses is utterly independent and entirely contained of any
external relations it might have, due to the fact that practical reason is more suitable to
the guidance and development of the will to do right as opposed to the happiness
achievement. It therefore means that good will’s value of human beings does not rely on
the results that are produced as the outcomes of the actions of humans (Guthrie, Para 7).
The moral theory of Kant proposes that acts that are right morally in virtue of the
intentions they have, which have to derive more will to do right from their
responsibilities than from tendency. According to this theory, the examples that are most
clear in terms of actions that are morally right are basically those in which a person’s
determination agent to act according with responsibility overcomes his obvious desire
and self interest of doing otherwise. However, is such instances, Immanuel argues that
the action’s moral value is only capable of residing in the maxim principle, which is the
informal principle of general obligation of acting in such a way since it is the duty of the
individual. Kant in his theory of moral concludes that an individual’s obligation is the
need of acting out of respect of the law (McPhee, Para 8).
The will to act in the right manner is morality’s ultimate principle and is governed
by the moral law that is perceived so conceptually that it has the ability of guiding human
beings in acting the right way through the utilization of all possible circumstances.
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Therefore, the only feature that is related to the law of morality is its generalization. This
implies that it posses the formal universalizability property, due to the fact that it can be
used in all instances by every agent of morality. In accordance to this series of reasoning
in regard to the common moral concepts possessed by humans, Immanuel came up with
an initial statement that is, the moral obligation statement, which creates the notion that
the actions that are right are the ones in which practical reason could credit as law that is
universal (Kemerling, Para 10).
The hypothetical imperative by Kant conditionally requires an action’s
performance for other purpose or end sake; its form is like in order to achieve say X one
has to do A. Applying imperatives that are hypothetical to decisions that are ethical is
troublesome mildly. In such instances, it is quite clear that individuals are obliged
morally to perform act A if they are sure that X is not only the legitimate objective will
also have the effect of producing the results that are desired. Therefore, human beings’
morality is governed by the will of doing the right things. For a human being that is
perfectly rational all the above would most likely be analytic, however, due to the general
restrictions of humans in terms of knowledge, it would be almost impossible to satisfy the
joint conditions (Guthrie, Para 11).
Kant argues that reason is a basic necessity for human beings to be moral in their
actions. It separates from each and every empirical experience, is capable of determining
the principle in accordance with all the ends that can be determined to be moral. The
reason fundamental principle is commonly referred to as categorical imperative. Reason
guides individuals in acting morally, guided by the desire to do right. This is because
practical reason that is pure in its determination, establishes what should be done without
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referring to the contingent empirical factors. In this sense, the position of Kant of Meta
ethical is one that is objective as opposed to being subjective. The determination of moral
questions does not rely on referring to exact matter from which they are posed. The
reason for this is due to the fact that it is absolute practical reason that and not particular
sensuous or empirical factors that determine morality, eventually they make morality to
be valid universally and also as the guiding factor in acting in the right manner. The
universalism of moral is considered as an aspect that is very distinctive in the moral
philosophy of Kant. It has a broad impact in the political and legal aspects of human
equality and rights. The main reason for the universal application of the moral philosophy
of Kant is because it dictates that morality is basically guided by an individual’s desire to
do right, due to the great satisfaction that is derived from acts that are ethical (McPhee,
Para 12).
Conclusion
According to the above discussion it is true that morality of the human beings is
largely guided by the will to do the right things. Humans have the tendency of acting
correctly and thus are ethical in their actions. There is a strong internal desire in
individuals that drives them to do right, because it is as a result of acting in the right
manner that human beings are ethical and thus derive a lot of satisfaction from their
actions.
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Work cited:
Guthrie, Shandon L.; Immanuel Kant and the Categorical Imperative, 2001, retrieved on
25th November 2009 from, http://sguthrie.net/kant.htm
Kemerling, Garth; Kant: the Moral Order, 2002, retrieved on 25th November 2009 from,
http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/5i.htm.
McPhee, Isaac M.; Kant's Categorical Imperative: The Key to Telling Right from Wrong,
2008, Retrieved on 25th November 2009 from,
http://philosophy.suite101.com/article.cfm/kants_categorical_imperative.
Ross, Kelley L.; Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), 2008, Retrieved on 25th November 2009
from, http://www.friesian.com/kant.htm.
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