Hypothetical Imperative Examples

546 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Immanuel kant categorical imperative theory

Immanuel Kant devised two types of imperatives which are categorical and hypothetical. An imperative is a type of command; hypothetical imperative is a type of non-moral command because it is based on wants and is not the supreme rule. For example, “Eating broccoli” is good because it is good for your health in helping you clean your colon and it is scientifically proven that it can reduce the risk of colon cancer. Not everyone will actually eat broccoli even though it is healthy for you because you have a choice whether to do it or not, it is not a duty but a choice. Kant’s principle, “I ought not act, less I should can will my maxim to become universal law,” which is categorical imperative. A maxim is an agent’s intention which in Kant’s …show more content…

You have two options, either tell the truth that your friend is in the house or lie and say he is not there. However, if you say your friend is in the house and you say he is not and the murderer someone manages to find said friend and kill him, then the consequences will be on you and not the murderer. According to Kant, if you lie, you will be at fault for your friend’s death and not the murderer that committed said killing. “For a lie always harms another; if not some other particular man, still it harms mankind generally, for it vitiates the source of law itself” (On A Supposed Right to Lie). If you say the truth that your friend is in the house and the murderer manages to find him and kills him, then it will not be in your consequence because apparently you did the right thing. In my opinion you should be able to tell a lie if the other person’s life is in danger such as this case. If a murderer asked if my friend was in the house, I would not hesitate to lie and say that they are not at home. Categorical imperative is not always the best choice when dealing if you should lie or not. If we make telling the truth at all times a universal law, then he murderer in this situation, would acquire his objective, which is killing your

Show More
Related

  • When is Lying OK? Rejecting All Lies: Immanuel Kant by Sissela Bok

    677 Words  | 2 Pages

    With different views on when it is OK to lie, the people continue to debate. But personally, I respect Kant’s views on the idea that lying is bad. Lying weakens the purpose to serve justice, destroys the liars’s dignity, and messes up the records. But I think that rare situations justify lies. I believe lies to save someone's life or just to protect someone from a big danger is the only type of lie that is justified. Those situations are the only times I think it is OK to lie. It might seem that lying to get yourself out of trouble is a situation that makes the lie justified. But I think that is a selfish reason for your own good and that people are thinking less about the society and more about their own good. Lying to get out of trouble is one of those many lies that are not justified.

    Read More

  • Is Mary Maloney A Sympathetic Character

    675 Words  | 2 Pages

    If, someday, I committed a horrible crime and was going to be punished for it I would definitely lie to save myself. I might tell the truth if I was being eaten by guilt and didn’t care about anything anymore, but definitely if I didn’t care very much. If anybody says they would tell the truth, I’m sure if something really happened they would lie too. It’s human nature to want to survive and thrive, and there’s nothing wrong with wanting to stay out of prison or not get the death penalty. In a real situation, where I would die if I were found guilty of your crime, I would definitely lie to save myself.

    Read More

  • Kant Vs Mill on the Issue of Lying

    1763 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hill, Thomas E., "Categorical and Hypothetical Imperatives." In The Blackwell guide to Kant's ethics. Chichester, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. 5-9.

    Read More

  • The Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals

    1055 Words  | 3 Pages

    Categorical imperatives are the basis of morality because they provoke pure reasons for every human beings actions. By the end of his work, one will understand Kant’s beliefs on morality, but to explain this, he goes into depth on the difference between hypothetical imperatives and Categorical Imperative, two different formulations of the Categorical Imperative, and a few examples. According to Kant, there are two types on imperatives, categorical imperatives and hypothetical imperatives. The Categorical Imperative is based on relation and not by means, which hypothetical imperatives are based on.

    Read More

  • Mill’s Objection to Kant’s Moral Theory

    1356 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kant argued that the Categorical Imperative (CI) was the test for morally permissible actions. The CI states: I must act in such a way that I can will that my maxim should become a universal law. Maxims which fail to pass the CI do so because they lead to a contradiction or impossibility. Kant believes this imperative stems from the rationality of the will itself, and thus it is necessary regardless of the particular ends of an individual; the CI is an innate constituent of being a rational individual. As a result, failure ...

    Read More

  • Examples Of Operant Conditioning

    719 Words  | 2 Pages

    Operant conditioning is a kind of conditioning, which examines how often a behavior will or occur depending on the effects of the behavior (King, 2016, pg. ). The words positive and negative are used to apply more significance to the words reinforcement or punishment. Positive is adding to the stimulus, while negative is removing from the stimulus (King, 2016). For instance, with positive reinforcement, there is the addition of a factor to increase the number of times that the behavior occurs (King, 2016). An example of positive reinforcement is when a child is given an allowance for completing their household chores. The positive reinforcement is the allowance which helps to increase the behavior of doing chores at home. In contrast with negative

    Read More

  • Immanuel Kant's Work On Grounding For The Metaphysics Of Morals?

    788 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kant starts by explaining the three divisions of philosophy which are: physics, ethics, and logic. He clarifies that physics and ethics are a posteriori while logic is, a priori, but there is a third variable that interacts both which is also the foundation of morals. This is the categorical imperative or also known as the synthetic a priori. The categorical imperative or the moral law is the reason of individuals’ actions. Kant goes on to say “I should never except in such a way that I can also will that my maxim should become a universal law” (Immanuel Kant, Page14 (line 407-408)). This indicates that an individual should not do anything that is not their own laws or rules that cannot become universal to all individuals. Throughout the Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant defines what categorical imperative is, but also its four distinct articulations.

    Read More

  • Morality Vs Immanuel Kant

    2119 Words  | 5 Pages

    The categorical imperative is an idea used to redefine ideas of morality (Kant 30). Morality is a priori; it is what we ought to do or ought not to do regarding an action (Hromas). "We know killing is wrong so we ought not to do it; we know this without experience" (Hromas). Morality is when everyone follows moral actions in agreement with the moral law and an action is not performed with a desire to feel a certain way (Kant’s Ethics). Immorality is when everyone follows the law except for one person (Hromas). Kant provides the example of a shopkeeper. The shopkeeper is to keep a fixed price for everyone so that the inexperienced shoppers do not get taken advantage of, such as a child (Kant 13). However, this action was done by the shopkeeper "for a self-interested purpose" (Kant 13). If the shop keeper did not keep a fixed price for everyone then word would spread about his not being fair to all customers and therefore no one will go into his store and he will go out of business. Another example is a street vendor in New York City. I am given a hotdog by a street vendor and am told it cost three dollars, but I only have one dollar and the vendor still sells me the hotdog for one dollar. A woman behind me asks for a hotdog and the vendor charges her three dollars. This vendor is not being fair to all of his customers because the woman and I both bought the same item but paid different amounts. I will come back to this street vendor but I am sure the woman will not. The vendor sold me the hotdog for one dollar because he wanted to receive some kind of payment for the food already in my hand and thus it was in his best interest to receive less

    Read More

  • Ethics in Nursing

    1924 Words  | 4 Pages

    Kant made a distinction between two types of duties which are hypothetical imperatives and categorical imperatives. Hypothetical imperatives are rules or duties people ought to observe if certain ends are to be achieved. Hypothetical imperatives are sometimes called “if-then” imperatives, which are condit...

    Read More

  • Utilitarianism vs. Kantianism

    1353 Words  | 3 Pages

    Immanuel Kant's deonotological ethical theory assesses if actions are moral based on the person's will or intention of acting. Kant's theory can be categorized as a deonotological because "actions are not assessed to be morally permissible on the basis of consequences they produce, but rather on the form of the agent's will in acting," (Dodds, Lecture 7) therefore his actions are based on duty and not consequential. Kantianism is based on three principles: maxims, willing, and the categorical imperative. Kant states that a maxim is a "general rule or principle which will explain what a person takes himself to be doing and the circumstances in which he takes himself to be doing it" (Feldman, 1999, 201). It is important that this principle be universalisable and that the maxim can be applied consistently to everyone that encounters similar situations, therefore willed as a universal law. The second aspect of Kant's theory is willing. This involves the agent consistently committing oneself to make an action occur. He states that, "In general, we can say that a person wills inconsistently if he wills that p be the case and he wills that q be the case and its impossible for p and q to be the case together" (Feldman, 1999, 203). T...

    Read More

  • Kantianism Theory versus Eudaimonia Theory

    1308 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...count the good of an activity. If the activity can be applied unanimously to all men, then the activity would clearly be deemed as good. I think Kant would compare the hypothetical and categorical imperatives to Aristotles theory that doing virtuous acts continually leads to the greatest good, eudaimonia.

    Read More

  • Kant's Categorical Imperative

    1532 Words  | 4 Pages

    A maxim is the generalized rule that characterizes the motives for a person’s actions. For Kant, a will that is good is one that is acting by the maxim of doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do. The moral worth of an action is determined by whether or not it was acted upon out of respect for the moral law, or the Categorical Imperative. Imperatives in general imply something we ought to do, however there is a distinction between categorical imperatives and hypothetical imperatives. Hypothetical imperatives are obligatory so long as we desire X.

    Read More

  • A Lie To Save A Life

    1074 Words  | 3 Pages

    Using Kantian philosophy a lie is always immoral and wrong, no matter what the situation is. Kantian ethics establishes the idea that good will be based on the action itself rather than outcome or any inclination one may have to perform an act could be good will.

    Read More

  • Is Lying Always Bad?

    675 Words  | 2 Pages

    Secondly, it is okay to be untruthful if you are trying to protect people. In certain situations, it is safer, and more practical for you to tell a lie rather than putting a loved one in jeopardy. To illustrate you may be in a situation where you are in a serious or dangerous situation, and you do not what anyone else involved, to keep them safe. For example, if you are getting held up for ransom, would you tell the truth to a loved one and get them involved, or lie and keep them safe? The obvious answer is to keep them safe at all costs, even if it means lying. Also, you do not want to put someone in harm’s way, so it would be ...

    Read More

  • Differences Between Utilitarianism And Hedonism

    1628 Words  | 4 Pages

    Kant invented the categorical imperative, which is a tool that can be used to understand whether certain maxims are rational, or not. Kant formulated the categorical imperative two different ways: the humanity formula and the universal formula. “Act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law.” This is Kant universal formula, which one should use and think about before performing a certain action. It means that one should perform an action only if he or she believes that this particular action could be used as universal law. In other words only if he or she believes that we can leave safely in a world where everyone could repeat that same action. Dr. Arnold used the example of promises. If Tim makes promises to Ben but does not intend on keeping his promises. He should think about how the world will be if everyone makes promises that they don’t intend on keeping, after a certain time no one will ever believe promises

    Read More

More about Hypothetical Imperative Examples

Open Document