Are There
Absolute
Moral
Rules?
Is Harry
Truman right
in deciding to
drop the
bombs in
Hiroshima and
Nagasaki?
Would obliteration of these
cities be right, noting that
it would result to the end of
World War, which
eventually happened?
Would the sacrifice of lives be acceptable if it
means saving more lives in return by
stopping the war?
Kantian
Ethics would
suggest that
what
Truman did
is wrong.
Kant is one of the most
important modern philosophers.
He was a German philosopher
during the Enlightenment era of
the late 18th century. In ethics,
he is best known to argue for
deontological ethics.
Deontological ethical view argues
that what is moral or wrong can be
judged not on the result of an action
but on the duty where the action is
based.
Deon means duty or obligation.
• In Kantian ethics, duty should not be
understood as an action based from any
command (e.g. teacher’s command or
command from the government). Rather
for Kant, the command that constitutes
an ought to the right action is grounded
on the moral law.
What is Duty? • Moral duty, for Kant, is not based on any
commands coming from the different
And what is institutions (e.g. school, police,
businesses, and state) but on the moral
the ground of law.
duty?
If duty is based on the moral law, then you ought to do such act not
because of the result (i.e. the act would benefit others or oneself) but
because it is the right thing .
What is moral law according to
Kant?
• For Kant, the moral law is the universal
law, which can be understood via his
notion of Categorical Imperative.
Categorical Imperative
should be contrasted
from hypothetical
imperative, which is
essentially based on
arbitrary will or desire.
What is
Hypothetical
Imperative?
Read carefully the passage (Elements
of Moral Philosophy, p. 129)
In contrast to hypothetical imperative, which is non moral, moral
obligation has the different form. It is categorical, which means you
ought to do x, period. Read the passage from Elements of Moral
Philosophy, p. 130
If the ought of hypothetical imperative is based on desire,
where does the ought of categorical imperative is based?
Read the passage from Elements of Moral Philosophy, p.
130.
So what is the categorical imperative, which impels everyone to act
guided by this ethical framework, because it is based on reason?
(Read: p. 130)
What does “act only according to that maxim by
which you can at the same time will that it should
become a universal law.” mean?
• First, one has to understand that “maxim” technically means for Kant
as rule or principle of an action.
• By understanding the what Kant meant by maxim, one can now
understand the passage as suggesting that one’s action should have a
rule that can be followed and be reasonable for everyone.
Here is Rachel’s explanation of what
Categorical Imperative means (p. 130)
Kant’s example on how categorical
imperative is applied (pp. 130-131)
Another example on how categorical
imperative is shown (p. 131)
Summary
By noting the categorical imperative, Kant establishes that the
test of an action whether right and wrong is not on whether
an act produces good result or bad.
Because it is not the result, the rightness of an act is based on
whether the rule of an action can be universalized or not.
On Truman’s Case
• One should test whether the maxim of an act can be universalized or
not.
• On Truman’s dilemma, the maxim would be:
To be able to stop war, it is right to drop atomic bombs, which
would kill and injure thousands of lives and devastate homes and
lands.
• That is not clearly a universalizable maxim, because it would lead to
more destructions of humanity if that become a universal law. For
instance, it would justify dropping of bombs to the war zones in the
middle east just to solve the war problem.
• Clearly, there are other options that could be done such as negotiation
and peace talks to be able to address the war problems.
