The categorical imperative

Overview

Recall questions on maxims, hypothetical and categorical imperatives, the universal law, end-in-itself and kingdom-of-ends formulations, the lying promise, contradictions in conception and in the will, the formulations as one principle, autonomy and heteronomy, and applying the end-in-itself formulation to a business deal.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is a maxim in Kant's ethics?

   Model answer

   A maxim is the personal principle or rule you are actually acting on, stated generally: for example, whenever I am short of money I will borrow with no intention of repaying. Kant's test operates on maxims rather than on individual deeds, because the maxim is what reveals what you have really committed yourself to.

2. 2

   What is a hypothetical imperative? Give an example.

   Model answer

   A hypothetical imperative is a command that holds only on condition that you want a particular result: if you want to pass your exams, revise. Its force depends entirely on the goal, so the moment you stop wanting the outcome the command loses all grip on you. It tells you the means to an end you happen to have chosen.

3. 3

   Why is the hypothetical imperative not the imperative of morality?

   Model answer

   Because moral obligation is not conditional on wanting anything. If honesty bound you only when you wanted a good reputation, a person indifferent to their reputation would be released from it, which is not how obligation works. Hypothetical commands are instructions about efficiency, whereas moral commands apply whatever your desires are. This is precisely why Kant needs a second, unconditional kind of imperative.

4. 4

   What is a categorical imperative, and how does it differ from a hypothetical one?

   Model answer

   A categorical imperative commands unconditionally: do this, full stop, with no clause about what you want. It is good in itself rather than good as a means, and it applies to every rational being simply as rational. The hypothetical says do this if you want that; the categorical says do this. They are opposites in Kant's scheme, and only the categorical carries moral authority.

5. 5

   Name Kant's three formulations of the categorical imperative.

   Model answer

   The universalisability formulation, also called the law-of-nature formula; the end-in-itself formulation, also called the formula of humanity; and the kingdom-of-ends formulation. Kant presents them as three ways of stating one principle, each bringing a different aspect of it into focus.

6. 6

   Explain the universalisability formulation of the categorical imperative.

   Model answer

   Before acting, ask whether the maxim you are acting on could be willed as a law that everyone follows, as if it were a law of nature. If universalising it produces a situation that is incoherent or that you could not rationally want, the maxim fails and the act is forbidden. The test is one of consistency in reasoning, not of unpleasant outcomes.

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