PHIL 3000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Universalizability, Categorical Imperative
30 May 2016
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Utilitarianism seems unable to handle a set of examples that most of us believe are instances of wrong-doing: make exeption for yourself, it does little to no harm, and you get away with it. Intuition: making an excepion for yourself (when others must obey) is immoral kant . Kant prioritizes consistency two ways to test for consistency that kant rejects: simple universialization: if disastrous results would occur if everyone did x, then x is immoral (p. 160) If everyone ,the end of all human life: golden rule: do unto others as you"d want them to do to you. (empathy is a form of imagination) Religious fanatic: may wish for violent enforcement of rules even upon self. Golden rule gives us no reason to cultivate our talents. An act is morally acceptable if, and only if, its maxim is universalizable. (p. 162) Maxim: states what you are about to do and why you are about to do it.
