Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- 1 A Beginning: Kant's Political Theory
- 2 The Categorical Imperative: The Ultimate Norm of Morality
- 3 The Formula of Autonomy or of Universal Law
- 4 The Formula of Respect for the Dignity of Persons
- 5 The Formula of Legislation for a Moral Community
- 6 The Limits of the Categorical Imperative
- 7 Morality and Prudence (Foundations 2)
- 8 Moral Character
- 9 Living under the Moral Law
- 10 The Defense of Morality (Foundations 3)
- Suggestions for Further Reading
- Index
3 - The Formula of Autonomy or of Universal Law
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- 1 A Beginning: Kant's Political Theory
- 2 The Categorical Imperative: The Ultimate Norm of Morality
- 3 The Formula of Autonomy or of Universal Law
- 4 The Formula of Respect for the Dignity of Persons
- 5 The Formula of Legislation for a Moral Community
- 6 The Limits of the Categorical Imperative
- 7 Morality and Prudence (Foundations 2)
- 8 Moral Character
- 9 Living under the Moral Law
- 10 The Defense of Morality (Foundations 3)
- Suggestions for Further Reading
- Index
Summary
As our ultimate norm of practical consistency, the Categorical Imperative obligates us to adopt and act only on policies that can also serve as objective laws because they are self-consistent as well as consistent with other such policies: “Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law” (421). It is therefore appropriate to give the first formula the title the “Formula of Universal Law.” Like the Universal Principle of Justice, this formula is a negative test of possible or actual maxims of happiness. We may not claim to be exempt from obligations to which we hold others, nor may we claim, on the basis of our own special interests, permissions we are unwilling to extend to all others. The requirement of universality, therefore, is a criterion of reciprocity: what is forbidden to one is forbidden to all; what is permissible for one is permissible for all; and what is obligatory for one is equally obligatory for everyone else. Hence we must judge maxims in a disinterested fashion, particularly in those cases in which we happen to have the greatest interest.
But whereas the Principle of Justice focuses on behaviors to be constrained by civil authority, this formula adds the ethical requirement that if we are to act as moral agents, we must ourselves freely will the universality and reciprocity the moral law commands. The actual formulation of moral maxims may originate with others; we each do not have to begin everything anew, as if no one before us had ever understood anything about morality.
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- Information
- An Introduction to Kant's Ethics , pp. 46 - 64Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1994