Immanuel Kant And Morality Essay

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The question of morality is one that has spanned the millennia of recorded human history.
From ancient religious texts to modern professors and thinkers, the debate over what is right and wrong rages on even in our modern society.One of the most transformative thinkers in moral philosophy has been Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher of the 18th Century. His work focuses on intent above consequence, and a morality that can be universally adopted. Kant’s insights are a valuable viewpoint which, when understood, helps one gain a greater understanding of the spectrum of morality and give perspective on just what it means to be a rational human.
The foundation and basis of Kant’s school of thought is the value he assigns to intent. Many people around the …show more content…
If this autonomy is so essential to the human experience, what, in Kant’s view, are we to do with it? Surely not bind ourselves to consequences, choosing a course of action based solely on its results. In contrast, we are directed towards what is known as a categorical imperative – actions that should be performed regardless of their outcomes. These categorical imperatives must also be universally binding
– all rational agents must be able to adopt them in order for them to be morally correct. A classic example is lying – lying could not be universally adopted because can exist only in a situation where truth is expected. It could not exist when truth is no longer the norm, therefore it cannot be universally adopted, and therefore is wrong.
Kant’s moral philosophy is deceptively simple. We put forth effort with the intent to do things that are morally correct, and that moral correctness is judged by the ability of the action to be adopted on a mass scale: act only on those policies you can expect all rational agents to act upon. By doing this, we respect humanity both in ourselves and others, and adopt a powerful, unchanging moral

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