To understand Kant’s moral philosophy, it's crucial to be familiar with the issues that he, and other thinkers of his time, were dealing with. From the earliest recorded history, people’s … See more

1. Social Contract Theory—One answer to the Enlightenment Problem was pion…
2. Utilitarianism—Utilitarianism, another attempt to give morality a non-religiou…
3. Kantian Ethics—Kant had no time for Utilitarianism. He believed i… See more

Obviously, we don’t perform every little action from a sense of obligation. Much of the time, we're simply following our inclinations—or acting out of self-interest. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with that, however, no one dese… See more

Another version of the Categorical Imperative that Kant offers states that one should “always treat people as ends in themselves, never merely … See more

In Kant’s view, the basic problem with utilitarianism is that it judges actions by their consequences. If you… See more

Kant’s "Groundwork"opens with the line: “The only thing that is unconditionally good is a good will.” Kant’s argument for this belief is quite plausible. Consider anything you think of in terms of being "good"—health, wealth, be… See more

Saying that people should do their duty from a sense of duty is easy—but how are we supposed to know what our duty is? Sometimes we may find ou… See more

In his famous essay “What is Enlightenment?” Kant defines the principle as “man’s emancipation from his self-imposed immaturity.” What does this mean, and what does it ha… See more