Phl 201/Ethics
Tues. 2-25
More Deontology

Prof. Borrowdale assigned chapter 9, Aristotle's Virtue Theory. Have it read by next Tuesday. Reading questions will be assigned then, and will be due on Thursday.

In class, we discussed more of Kant's theory, which says that morality is a matter of good motives. A right act has to follow the the correct moral rule and be from the correct motive to be morally correct.
Having good will means that a person will be motivated to do the right thing. the right thing will be obvious to anyone who is using his reason. therefore, acting with good will(right motive) will result in the right act.
Correct motive =Duty to the degree that the a person is rational.
Duty is the right motive.
In reference to the "shopkeeper" illustration, Kan't would say the folowing: The shopkeeper's natural inclination for honesty deserves no praise. The shopkeeper's indirect inclination is not praiseworthy . Both inclinations deal with desire. Neither are acting from a moral motive, only from what's good for them personally. The first isn't thinking in moral terms;it's natural for him to be good. The third inclination is the only praiseworthy one because it is the morally or duty based response.
Kant would say that the one who goes against his nature and does good or his duty is the one who is morally right. It is OK to have other motives as long as the primary motive is duty.

We discused two imperatives.
1. Hypothetical -practical- reason guiding desire.
2. Categorical-moral-reason alone
an example was given of someone wanting to lose weight(goal). A hypothetical imperative would say: eat less, exercize.
An example of a categorical imperative would be : It's wrong to molest a child. what a person "feels" is irrelevent.
There are 2 tests of the categorical imperative.
1. Can I imagine a world where everyone acts on my principle and I'm still able to act on it? If the answer is no, that = a contradiction of concept.
In regards to the person who says that they won't help anyone and ask help of no one, the second test applies.
2. Contradiction of will: Could you rationally want or will such a world to exist? As a rational person you couldn't. Kant would say that everyone needs help at one time or another. so in order to get help, a person must be willing to give help. Of course, everyone has to help everyone. according to Kant, rationality is universal, doesn't rely upon consequences and Kant assumes that any rational person wll accept this theory.
The humanity formulationstates that you can't use people or treat them as tools. For example. slavery.
Lastly, the Nozick experience is supposed to illustrate that hedonism is false. That's it!