Ethics



Ethics

Immanuel Kant is one of the most prominent western philosophers, and arguably the most influencial voice of the period in history known as "the Enlightenment". Kant defined his era as a time where autonomous thinking was urgent, and contended that only trough questioning external authority, can one expect to reach knowledge that is true, i.e. unbiased. The categorical imperative is one of his most famous concepts, and it amounts to a self-directed personal struggle that each human has to face while trying to follow the path of righteousness and morals; such path is not static, but rather an utterly dynamic path.

Kant's major criticism of previous ethical theories aims toward their lack of consideration for the inseparable duality which supports to the human condition, which manifest in the contrast between sensible and intellectual faculties; in fact, he recognized his own inability to develop a universal standard of ethics that would encourage autonomous thinking; as a result, he entered a hiatus which lasted for more than one decade. After that long period of reflection, he published "The Critique of Pure Reason", a book that would turn out to be a major landmark in the western philosophical thought. (wiki) At this point, he advocated that knowledge is not external to the mind, but quite the opposite: that mind is necessarily a part of knowledge, its contribution transcendental, and not merely psychological: we define reality in the same measure that reality defines us.

His conception implies that morality should be rooted on the common principle of individual freedom, and that each individual is in turn responsible for his own morality. All principles of ethics can be inferred from the maxims that support each action, and each maxim must result from categorical imperative, which is the like a golden rule; every action that is a result of such rule is bound to be moral. It opposes the hypothetical imperative, which supports every action that is relative to our own personal well-being, and which therefore may not be moral.

For example, if we steal something, we're following not the categorical imperative but a hypothetical imperative, in the sense that our action translates in our own satisfaction, at the expense of someone else's dissatisfaction; such is therefore a behavior of moral relativity. Kant's philosophy is a self-critical activity, where the individual acts independently, but guides his behavior after the Ideal of Goodness that Kant refers as "Good Will" from which nothing but good things arise: by acting upon Good Will one can be certain of doing the right thing, at all times. It is thus that by following the categorical imperative, one is able to consistently make ethical choices which are not biased, but rather autonomous. Following this self-recursive golden rule, one does the right thing, simply because it's the right thing to do; the categorical imperative causes one to be attuned to one's conscience, while making any decision whatsoever.

The categorical imperative is a sort of universal golden rule that leads towards the ideal Kant refers to as "Good ...