Session 11课件.ppt

Session 11 Kant’s Moral Theory ;Counterexample to teleological theory a voluntary doctor 2. Etymologically, deontology has its roots in Greek word deon, meaning duty or obligation. looks at inputs rather than outputs ;the consequences of an action irrelevant to moral assessment; but duty Example: Suppose Jack sees Andrew whom he regards as his enemy crossing a lonely road on a wild night when he driving home, and tries to run him down. As luck would have it, the sound of his sudden acceleration alerts him to a falling tree and he leaps into the ditch just in time to avoid being crushed beneath it. ;Immanuel Kant’s (1734-1804) moral theory is an example of deontological or duty-based ethics. 3. Overview of Kant’s project three works: Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785), Critique of Practical Reason (1788), and Metaphysics of Morals (1797). commonsensical knowledge of morality seek the unified principle ;4. The Good Will sees moral worth of an action only in the will of the agent even if we are unable to accomplish the end gives an action moral worth is not the outcome that is achieved by the action, but the motive or good will that is behind the action. intrinsical value – only good will ;there are certainly a lot of things that can be regarded absolutely good, such as wisdom and intelligence. Kant: only if the person possessing them has a will to use them in the right way. merely qualified good; each of them comes with a “but” attached. The good will- unqualified good ;What is a good will? Or, more specifically, what does the good will will to do? it wills to do its duty; act out of respect for moral law or moral duty ;However, action conforming to the duty or moral law is not sufficient to guarantee its moral worth. it is not sufficient to do that which should be morally good that it conform to the law; it must be done for the sake of the law. (Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, Akademie pagination 390