Onora O'Neill on Kant

Slides for an Introduction to Philosophy course, discussion O'Neill's text: "Kantian Approaches to Some Famine Problems." These slides discuss the second form of Kant's Categorical Imperative, the formula of humanity as en end in itself.

philosophy
ethics
morality
Kant
O'Neill

Transcript

1. O’NEILL ON KANT AND POVERTY PHIL 102, UBC Christina Hendricks O’Neill, “Kantian Approaches to Some Famine Problems”
2. Second form of Kant’s C.I. The form of “humanity as an end in itself” 2
3. “ “Act in such a way as to treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of anyone else, always as an end and never merely as a means” (Kant, Early Modern Texts version of Groundwork, p. 9) 3
4. 4 Treating people as means to our own ends Buying and selling Teaching & learning
5. “We use others as mere means if what we do reflects some maxim to which they could not in principle consent” (O’Neill 260). 5 Treating others merely as means to our ends Lying promise Coercion, violence Deception
6. Not only avoid treating others as mere means, but also ▷ “sustain and extend one another’s capacities for autonomous action” (O’Neill 262) ▷ So we should sometimes “support one another’s ends and activities to some extent” (262) (can’t do it all the time!) 6 Treating people as ends in themselves
7. Justice & Beneficence Not treating others as mere means to ends “perfect duties” Treating others as ends in themselves “imperfect duties” 7
8. 8 Why is this a form of the CI? Humanity has intrinsic, unconditional value “Act in such a way as to treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of anyone else, always as an end and never merely as a means” (Kant 9)
9. “Things that are preferred have only conditional value, for if the preferences … didn’t exist, their object would be worthless” (Kant 8). Rational beings “are not merely subjective ends whose existence … has value for us, but [their] existence is an end in itself” [and so has unconditional value] (9). 9 Kant on unconditional value of rational beings Why?
10. Returning to Kant’s four examples Using the second form of C.I. this time 10
11. Suicide (9) Maxim: to avoid pain using the absolute worth of oneself as a rational being as a means to something of conditional worth (avoiding pain) o Perfect duty/Justice 11
12. Lying promise Kant (9): If A makes lying promise to B, “B can’t possibly assent to A’s acting against him in this way, so he can’t contain in himself the end of this action” o Perfect duty/Justice 12
13. Developing Talents Kant (10): neglecting our talents “might perhaps be consistent with the preservation of humanity as an end in itself but not with the furtherance of that end” o Imperfect duty/Beneficence 13
14. Helping others Kant (10): “For a positive harmony with humanity as an end in itself, what is required is that everyone positively tries to further the ends of others as far as he can” o Imperfect duty/Beneficence 14
15. ▷ Pick one action that you think is immoral ▷ Use either CI (1) or CI (2) and see what it would say about that action/maxim ◦ CI (1): form of universal law; universalize your maxim ◦ CI (2): treating people as mere means to ends? Treating them as ends in themselves? ▷ Can you think of an example where the Categorical Imperative (in either form) would give you an answer you think is incorrect? 15 Try using C.I. (1) or (2)
16. http://is.gd/phil102kant 16 Questions/comments
17. Kant and poverty O’Neill on a Kantian approach to helping those in poverty around the world 17
18. 18 Justice & Beneficence re: helping those in poverty Not treating others as mere means to ends • Examples? Treating others as ends in themselves • “sustain and extend others’ capacities for autonomous action” (O’Neill 262) • Examples?
19. What is paternalism? Utilitarians and Kantians on paternalism re: helping others 19 Against paternalism
20. ▷ 2nd form of C.I. —humanity as an end in itself ◦ Justice/perfect duties: avoid treating others as mere means to ends ◦ Beneficence/imperfect duties: sometimes support ends of others, promote their capacity for autonomous action ▷ Unconditional value of humanity ▷ Kantian approach to poverty: beneficence in helping others—focus on autonomy 20 Summary
21. Credits Special thanks to all the people who made and released these awesome resources for free: ▷ Presentation template by SlidesCarnival licensed CC BY ▷ Photos ▷ Grave image licensed CC0 from pixabay.com ▷ Money image licensed CC0 from pixabay.com ▷ Cat image by Kevin Ianeselli on Unsplash (see license) ▷ Homeless person image by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash (see license) ▷ Adult & child image by Photo by Sebastián León Prado on Unsplash (see license) ▷ Icons not credited were purchased with a subscription to The Noun Project 21