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Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative: Key Concepts
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This lecture notes discusses the key concepts of Immanuel Kant's Ethics famously known as the Categorical Imperative.
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Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative: Key ConceptsMorality for Immanuel Kant means acting in accordance with the categorical
imperative. In fact, as is well known, for Kant, the categorical imperative is the supreme
principle of morality. Hence, for Kant, an act is moral if it is done in accordance with the
categorical imperative; otherwise, it is non-moral or immoral.
The Categorical Imperative
What is the categorical imperative?
First, as we know, an imperative is a command. For example, one may say “Don’t cheat”
or “You have to fulfill your promises”.
There are two types of imperative, namely, hypothetical and categorical imperative. On
the one hand, a hypothetical imperative is one that expresses a conditional command.
For example, we may say “If you want to become successful, then you have to work very
hard”. As we can see, this example poses a condition, that is, you only have to work very
hard if you want to become successful. If you don’t want to become successful, then
you can just sit, lie, and relax. On the other hand, a categorical imperative is one that
expresses an absolute command. For example, we may say “Do not be late”. As we can
see, this command does not pose a condition as it does not contain an “if-then” clause.
Even if one is tempted to cheat, she ought not to because she is commanded absolutely
not to cheat.
To know the nature and dynamics of the categorical imperative, we need to familiarize
ourselves with some of the core concepts in Kantian ethics, namely, the idea of the good
will, duty and the moral worth of an act, and the formulations of the categorical
imperative.
The Good Will
According to Kant, the good will is the one that facilitates a human act. But what makes
a good will good? For Kant, a good will is good not because it produces good results (as
in the case of pragmatic ethics) or greatest happiness to the greatest number of people
(as in the case of utilitarian ethics), but it is good by virtue of its intrinsic value.
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