More handpicked essays just for you.
Kant the categorical imperative analysis
Introduction to A Critique of Friedrich Nietzsche's Concept of Morality
Kant theory essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
A good life worth living in my opinion requires serving and meeting the needs of others, as well as myself. We are expected to give unselfishly to our associates, friends, neighbors and family for good moral cause because it is purposeful in the end. What would we reap from merely relying on our sole actions and how would that selfishness benefit us as a whole in society? This is where Kant and Nietzsche disagree on the definition of what is considered a good life, what is considered moral and who has the worth to decide upon it.
I will begin with Kant, as he was the first to develop his theory of morality. Kant published the Groundwork for the Metaphysic of Morals in 1785. Kant’s entire hypothesis of morality revolved around the basis of us being motivated by the logic of obligation and having a moral duty to oblige and uphold as good beings. Kant believed that our moral actions were the result of reasoning and ones moral worth was dependent upon motive, not the end or the consequences resulting from ones actions. As rational beings we are expected to act and behave accordingly for the sake of the moral good, but with practical reason. This then results in universal morality according to Kant. This was all defined under Kant’s categorical imperative. These imperatives are things that one “ought” to do according to Kant. Kant believed that following ones duty was not measurable by the end means, yet it “is good only through its willing”. This meant that it is good only if it is good in itself. He believes under the categorical imperative, one must only act upon the maxim if it is willable under the universal law. And these maxims must be contradiction free and purposeful to be considered moral.
Kant believed that we as hum...
... middle of paper ...
... feel beneath you to uplift ones self. If one was born into the noble they were sanctioned a virtuous good life, the ignoble were condemned from the beginning based purely by the division of labels and the power of words.
Nietzsche believed that we should have the ability, the freedom to make our own choices socially. He felt that all individuals should be free to form their own moral compass system. He was clearly against religion and the fear mongrel mentality to control ones choices and dictation over what was deemed moral. He was asking for a radical change, for us to reconstruct how we define morality. But that said, Nietzsche himself failed to offer an explicit alternative to Kant’s theory of morality. Nietzsche offered nothing more than a contentious critique over Kant’s almost 100-year-old system that theoretically and realistically worked.
Friedrich Nietzsche was a brilliant and outspoken man who uses ideas of what he believe in what life is about. He did not believe in what is right and wrong because if who opposed the power. Nietzsche was against Democracy because how they depend on other people to make some different or change, while Nietzsche believe they should of just pick the ones that were gifted and talent to choose what to change. Nietzsche also does not believe in Aristocracy because how they depend on an individual person to create the rules or change those benefits for him. As you see Nietzsche did not like how they depend on one person to decide instead of each person to decide for himself for their own benefits.
Nietzsche uses an elevated level of diction to help him achieve his purpose, he uses Latin in many passages to make the reader look to the bottom of the page and thus think about what he is proposing. His combination of elevated diction along with deductive reasoning can sometimes lose the reader, but just as fast as the reader is lost Nietzsche offers forth a formula which helps the reader follow his thinking. Nietzsche believes that a person’s "virtue is the consequence of happiness," or that a person’s emotions are the product of their beliefs. Nietzsche’s uses consequence to mean something more like cause than effect. He interchanges monosyllabic and polysyllabic - in the form of metaphors - words in connotation to sometimes differ the reader from the beaten track of thinking. He believes in a set course "that he became ill, that he failed to resist the illness," for humans and that they cannot deter from it (this is very far left in a time of conservative Europeans, late 19th century). Even in his "formulas" Nietzsche’s meaning is not as straight forward as it seems. It seems that he believes that individuals genetically are means to an end, but this is more of a metaphor for humanity, or that humanity is their own means to an end.
In the essay titled “Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals” published in the Morality and Moral Controversies course textbook, Immanuel Kant argues that the view of the world and its laws is structured by human concepts and categories, and the rationale of it is the source of morality which depends upon belief in the existence of God. In Kant’s work, categorical imperative was established in order to have a standard rationale from where all moral requirements derive. Therefore, categorical imperative is an obligation to act morally, out of duty and good will alone. In Immanuel Kant’s writing human reason and or rational are innate morals which are responsible for helping human. Needless to say, this also allows people to be able to distinct right from wrong. For the aforementioned reasons, there is no doubt that any action has to be executed solely out of a duty alone and it should not focus on the consequence but on the motive and intent of the action. Kant supports his argument by dividing the essay into three sections. In the first section he calls attention to common sense mor...
Friedrich Nietzsche’s “On the Genealogy of Morality” includes his theory on man’s development of “bad conscience.” Nietzsche believes that when transitioning from a free-roaming individual to a member of a community, man had to suppress his “will to power,” his natural “instinct of freedom”(59). The governing community threatened its members with punishment for violation of its laws, its “morality of customs,” thereby creating a uniform and predictable man (36). With fear of punishment curtailing his behavior, man was no longer allowed the freedom to indulge his every instinct. He turned his aggressive focus inward, became ashamed of his natural animal instincts, judged himself as inherently evil, and developed a bad conscience (46). Throughout the work, Nietzsche uses decidedly negative terms to describe “bad conscience,” calling it ugly (59), a sickness (60), or an illness (56); leading some to assume that he views “bad conscience” as a bad thing. However, Nietzsche hints at a different view when calling bad conscience a “sickness rather like pregnancy” (60). This analogy equates the pain and suffering of a pregnant woman to the suffering of man when his instincts are repressed. Therefore, just as the pain of pregnancy gives birth to something joyful, Nietzsche’s analogy implies that the negative state of bad conscience may also “give birth” to something positive. Nietzsche hopes for the birth of the “sovereign individual” – a man who is autonomous, not indebted to the morality of custom, and who has regained his free will. An examination of Nietzsche’s theory on the evolution of man’s bad conscience will reveal: even though bad conscience has caused man to turn against himself and has resulted in the stagnation of his will, Ni...
In “On truth and lies in a Nonmoral Sense” Nietzsche approaches the truth in a very Kantian manner. Kant, being the skeptic he was, believed that the truth was impossible to discover and that, we will never know it. Kant also believed that you would never know if your soul was immortal or if you truly have free will. Using the Kantian philosophy, Nietzsche attempts to convince
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.
Morality is based on the categorical imperative, or the act of carrying out principles that can be universally rightly applied. Moral philosophy, according to Kant, is finding the base principle of a moral metaphysics. Ultimately, Kant’s foundational moral rests on moral agreement or
When one considers the extensive degree to which modern philosophy has invested in scrutinizing the subject of morality, the default reaction would perhaps be one of amenable acceptance. After all, the significance of morality is obvious, and questions such as what constitutes as moral and how exactly does one become moral have been matters of contention for maybe longer than philosophy has even existed. It can be said therefore, that philosophy is steadfast in its fascination with everything morality. It is also precisely this almost fanatic obsession with morality that Nietzsche is so critical of. This is not to say the he would reject the importance or even the necessity of morality altogether. He is concerned however, that
Friedrich Nietzsche is recognized for being one of the most influential German philosophers of the modern era. He is known for his works on genealogy of morality, which is a way to study values and concepts. In Genealogy of Morals, Friedrich Nietzsche mentions that values and concepts have a history because of the many different meanings that come with it. Nietzsche focused on traditional ethical theories, especially those rooted in religion. Not being a religious man, he believed that human life has no moral purpose except for the significance that human beings give it.
Kant was primarily focused on being rational. Kant understood humanity’s goal to be enlightened. Nietzsche is more about the effect of Kant’s teachings. Nietzsche thinks that the age of the enlightenment left the future people incapable of living life.to be human according to Nietzsche is not a fixed being but one to becoming. The human being is a movement to something great or a failure Values and standards are what we use to measure progress or digression doesn’t cut it for Nietzsche. He wants to measure human existence on the aesthetic values. For Nietzsche living a unique life or a life that is creative nature is what it is to be a human being. Nietzsche rejects Kant’s ideas because Kant focuses on overemphasizing on being rational, which has led the human to being boring and uninteresting. Nietzsche encourages us accept the challenges that life presents to us; the struggles mold us into someone different. Nietzsche rejects the ideas of values because the values are instilled in us from day one. Nietzsche believes the human values are flawed because everyone looks for some value. For Nietzsche neither values whether good or bad are positive. He believes the values of good and bad are flawed because what is the criterion of what makes something good or bad. These values put false ideas and expectations that stop the person for achieving beauty or great heights of creativity. To Nietzsche values are created when we try to
Immanuel Kant was an eighteenth century philosopher whose ideas redefined philosophical views of morality and justice, and provided a base for modern philosophers to argue these ideas. In Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, he argues against Hume’s idea of utilitarianism. Kant also explores the idea of freedom, free action, moral action, and how to determine if our actions are moral by use of the categorical imperative.
Kant believed that morality has to be something free and freely controlled by the person taking the moral action excluding consequences because consequences are not controllable. Morality is freely chosen and legislated universal law that any rational being could construct and all rational beings who want to be moral do
Kant’s moral philosophy is built around the formal principles of ethics rather than substantive human goods. He begins by outlining the principles of reasoning that can be equally expected of all rational persons regardless of their individual desires or partial interests. It creates an ideal universal community of rational individuals who can collectively agree on the moral principles for guiding equality and autonomy. This is what forms the basis for contemporary human rig...
In Kant’s book, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant talks about the three formulations of the categorical imperative. By these formulations, he describes his idea of organizing the moral principle for all rational beings. Kant also talks about the principles of humanity, rational ends, and the “realm of ends” which are constituted by the autonomous freedom of rational beings.
When reading Nietzsche, we can pick up from him that he was very educated often better than most philosophers. Or so he thought. Although he had a very poor outlook on his culture and everyday society, he had very strong opinions when it came to humans and their actions. He made strong assumptions whether people agreed with him or not. An assumption such as, he believed most philosophers and researchers were not as educated as he was, which we pick up in his writings. Nietzsche’s main goal in his essays are to educate those on morality. First, Nietzsche believed that specific words and human actions have evolved over time to things they were never intended to become. Nietzsche