{"id":705,"date":"2025-03-13T18:56:38","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T18:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/chapter\/9-1-immanuel-kant-and-deontological-ethics\/"},"modified":"2025-03-31T21:25:32","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T21:25:32","slug":"9-1-immanuel-kant-and-deontological-ethics","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscphi1012ethics\/chapter\/9-1-immanuel-kant-and-deontological-ethics\/","title":{"raw":"9.1 Immanuel Kant and Deontological Ethics","rendered":"9.1 Immanuel Kant and Deontological Ethics"},"content":{"raw":"
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Immanuel Kant was born in 1724 in Konigsberg in East Prussia, where he died in 1804. Kant was famous for revolutionizing how we think about just about every aspect of the world \u2014 including science, art, ethics, religion, the self, and reality. He was one of the most important thinkers of all time.<\/p>\r\n

Kant & Categorical Imperatives: Crash Course Philosophy #35<\/a> (10:27)<\/strong><\/p>\r\n[embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8bIys6JoEDw&t=37s[\/embed]\r\n\r\nIf you are experiencing issues viewing the video above, please use this link: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8bIys6JoEDw&t=37s<\/a>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"383\"]\"Portrait Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), Wikipedia.com<\/a>, Public Domain.[\/caption]\r\n

Kant\u2019s main works in ethics are his Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals<\/em> (1785) and his Metaphysics of Morals<\/em> (1797). In these works, Kant does not give practical advice about what to do in specific moral situations but rather, through rational reflection, seeks to establish the basic principles of moral reasoning. In Normative Ethics, Deontological<\/strong> theories are those that maintain that ethical evaluations are rooted somehow in the action itself, or some feature of the action, which would result in a moral duty<\/strong> or obligation. In this approach, the consequences of the action are not generally considered to be morally relevant.\u00a0 Thus, deontological theories often generate a set of duties. Deon<\/em> is Greek for duty or obligation.\u00a0 What is the source of such duty?\u00a0 Various theories answer that question differently.\u00a0 It could be a deity, natural law, reason, a sense of justice, or one's sense of self.<\/p>\r\n

It is helpful to remember, therefore, that Kant is focused not on the consequences<\/em> of an action but on our virtue<\/em> and on the action<\/em> itself. Moreover, there is only one virtue or character trait that should matter for ethics. That virtue is \u201cthe desire to do the right thing,\u201d what Kant called The Good Will.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"

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Immanuel Kant was born in 1724 in Konigsberg in East Prussia, where he died in 1804. Kant was famous for revolutionizing how we think about just about every aspect of the world \u2014 including science, art, ethics, religion, the self, and reality. He was one of the most important thinkers of all time.<\/p>\n

Kant & Categorical Imperatives: Crash Course Philosophy #35<\/a> (10:27)<\/strong><\/p>\n