The Groundwork Of The Metaphysics Of Morals By Immanuel Kant

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As a philosopher during the Enlightenment era, Immanuel Kant is considered to be one of the great major thinkers of all time. His emphasis on the moral life and reason is his overall philosophy on life. One of his quotes even describes his overall philosophy; “Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing wonder and awe, the oftener and the more steadily we reflect on them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.” (Arrington 261) Kant’s views on “the moral law” are still applicable today, and his concept of “the categorical imperative” is influential as well.
One of Kant’s most well known philosophies dealt with deontological ethics. Deontological ethics are ethical positions that judges the morality of an action based on the action 's dependability to a rule. According to Theodore Denise, Kant opposed the wide-spread consequentialist Utilitarian view, which says “that the test of right and wrong is whether an action has good consequences.” (Denise 144) Kant’s main hypothesis, found in his work The Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, is that human reasoning is based on respect for rules and laws (Arrington, 270). Since …show more content…

A maxim is a subjective principle of action. In other words, maxims differ from person to person due to the emphasis on individuality. For example, someone may want to give a percent of their salary to a charity like Children in Need, while their friend might want to give a percent of their income to a university. Unlike maxims, laws apply to everyone. Kant emphasizes that laws assume a metaphysical quality to be respected in an unqualified manner, laws emphasize forms of behavior with no exceptions, pleading, or individual cases. An example is if two people murder someone- there are no exceptions or “personal maxims” since it is a law and both people will be ushered to the same

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