Kant's Ethical Theory

Immanuel Kant (praise be his name*) is an incredibly influential 18th century German philosopher who is the hero of many philosophy professors (mostly because he published his groundwork Critique of Pure Reason in his late 50s, giving hope to those who think their careers could be late-blooming). His works are incredibly beautiful, yet impossibly difficult to read and understand. Stanford scholars love him (in the same way that Oxford philosophers love Wittgenstein).

In Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, Kant puts forth the Categorical Imperative, which encompasses our moral obligations and duties. We must follow the categorical imperative if we are to be moral (under Kant's view); it is an unconditional obligation. He has several formulations of the categorical imperative. One of them is that you "always act according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." The second formulation is that "the rational being, as by its nature as an end and thus as an end in itself, must serve in every maxim as the condition restricting all merely relative and arbitrary ends." This means that human beings must never be treated merely as a means to an end, but as an end in themselves.

You can see why Kant can be somewhat difficult to understand. And my interpretations probably botched up the intricacy of his arguments. Nevertheless, I feel that his moral philosophy (later leading to deontological ethics) helps me justify those decisions I consider moral. Being a doctor allows me to treat human beings as an end rather than as a means. On the other hand, a utilitarian might justify being a doctor by saying caring for people creates a greater good in society, or treating an infectious disease prevents an epidemiological outbreak, or giving preventative care will save money in the long run. But all a Kantian needs to know is that he is obligated to serve his patients and doing so justifies that very action. He does not need to appeal to economic cost-benefit analysis, the impact on society, or even the happy feeling he gets when he helps someone.

*I adopted this habit from one of my friends; whenever we mention Gottfried Leibniz (praise be his name), we always append that phrase as he was an amazing philosopher and mathematician (Wikipedia even calls him a polymath). But as I am unlikely to write a blog about Leibniz (praise be his name), and I have such awe for Kant's work, I figured it couldn't hurt for him to get a nod towards his genius.