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Applying the categorical imperative
| 1. Formulate your maxim (=personal rule) |
Whenever I am in a difficult situation, I should tell a lie. |
| 2. Universalize your maxim. |
Whenever anybody is in a difficult situation, he or she should tell a lie. |
| 3. Check for a contradiction (logical or practical) |
When I lie, I will the opposite for the universal law. Put differently, I will that everybody (but me) be a truth-teller and that everybody believe me a truth-teller. I then make myself the exception to this universal law. Thus my maxim (I am a liar) contradicts the law (everybody else is a truth-teller) |
- When I will one thing as universal law and make myself the exeception in difficult circumstances, I am treating others, in Kantian terms, merely as means.
- This implies that I subordinate or bend them to my interests and projects without their consent. I do this by circumventing their autonomy through (1) force, (2) fraud (often deception), or (3) manipulation. Treating them with respect would involve telling them what I want (what are my plans and projects) and on this basis asking them to consent to particpate and help me. The extreme case for treating others merely as means is enslaving them.
- We do on occasion treat others as means (and not as mere means) when we hire them as employees. But this is consistent with their autonomy and rational consent because we explain to them what is expected (we give them a job description) and compensate them for their efforts. For this reason there is a world of difference between hiring others and enslaving them.
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The Formula of the End =
Act so as to treat others (yourself included) always as ends and never merely as means .
Some key definitions for a rights framework
- Kantian formalism provides a foundation for respect for the intrinsic value of humans as autonomous rational beings. Using this as
a point of departure, we can develop a method for identifying,spelling out, and justifying the rights and duties that go with
professionalism. This framework can be summarized in fourgeneral propositions:
- 1. Definition: A
right is an essential
capacity of action that others are obliged to recognize andrespect. This definition follows from autonomy.
Autonomy can be broken down into a series of specific capacities.Rights claims arise when we identify these capacities and take
social action to protect them. Rights are inviolable and cannot beoverridden even when overriding would bring about substantial
public utility.
- 2. All rights claims must satisfy three
requirements. They must be (1)
essential to the autonomy of
individuals and (2)
vulnerable so that they require special
recognition and protection (on the part of both individuals andsociety). Moreover, the burden of recognizing and respecting a
claim as a right must not deprive others of something essential. Inother words, it must be (3)
feasible for both individuals and
social groups to recognize and respect legitimate rightsclaims.
- 3. Definition: A
duty is a rule or principle
requiring that we both recognize and respect the legitimate rightsclaims of others. Duties attendant on a given right fall into three
general forms: (a) duties not to deprive, (b) duties to prevent deprivation, and (c) duties to aid the deprived.
- 4.
Rights and duties are correlative ; for
every right there is a correlative series of duties to recognizeand respect that right.
- These four summary points together form a system of professional and occupational rights and
correlative duties.
Source:
OpenStax, Corporate governance. OpenStax CNX. Aug 20, 2007 Download for free at http://legacy.cnx.org/content/col10396/1.10
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