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Duty and
Categorical Rules
Immanuel Kant
Introduction to Ethics, PHIL 118
Professor Douglas Olena
Preview
• This selection from Kant includes:
• The description of the Good Will
• The concept of Duty
• An introduction to the Natural Moral Law

Transition from the Common Rational
Knowledge of Morality to the Philosophical
• The Philosophical Knowledge of Morality
• 171 “Nothing can possibly be conceived in the world, or

even out of it, which can be called good, without
qualification, except a Good Will.”
• “Intelligence, wit, judgment, and the other talents of the

mind, however they may be named, or courage,
resolution, perseverance, as qualities of temperament,
are undoubtedly good and desirable in many respects…
• The Philosophical Knowledge of Morality
• 171 “…but these gifts of nature may also become

extremely bad and mischievous if the will which is to
make use of them, and which, therefore, constitutes
what is called character, is not good.”
• 171 “It is the same with the gi!s of fortune, power, riches,
honor, even health, and the general well-being and
contentment with one’s condition which is called
happiness, inspire pride, and often presumption, if there is
not a good will to correct the influence of these on the
mind.”
• “The sight of a being who is not adorned with a single

feature of a pure and good will, enjoying unbroken
prosperity, can never give pleasure to an impartial
spectator.”
• 171 “Thus a good will appears to constitute the

indispensable condition even of being worthy of
happiness.”
• 171 “ Moderation in the affections and passions, self-

control, and calm deliberation are not only good in many
respects, but even seem to constitute part of the intrinsic
worth of the person” (virtue)
• “But they are far from deserving to be called good without

qualification.”
• “For without the principles of a good will, they may

become extremely bad.”
• 171 “And the coolness of a villain not only makes him far
more dangerous, but also makes him more abominable in
our eyes than he would have been without it.”
• 171 The good will is good in itself and more to be

esteemed than all the good that can be brought about by
it.
• It is good even if it performs no act.
• 172 “Its usefulness or fruitlessness can neither add nor take

away anything from this value.”
• In order to clear up the idea of good will we will examine

“the notion of duty, which includes that of a good will.”
• The first proposition is that in order to have moral worth

an action must be done out of duty unalloyed by
inclination or self-interest.
• 172 “For example, it is always a matter of duty that a dealer

should not overcharge an inexperienced purchaser.”
• But it is not a duty when the shopkeeper has done this as

a matter of self interest, in order that everyone should
know he is a fair businessman.
• It is not a matter of duty when there is some inclination

or other driving the effort to do good or right.
• It is only duty when any other motivation is taken away

and the good deed is done anyway.
• 172 “To be beneficent when we can is a duty; and besides

this, there are many minds so sympathetically constituted
that, without any other motive of vanity or self-interest,
they find pleasure in spreading joy around them, and can
take delight in the satisfaction of others so far as it is their
own work.”
• But this has no moral worth because it is on par with

other “inclinations, e.g. the inclination to honor.”
• 172, 173 Take the case of the philanthropist who has lost all
inclination and self-interested motives, who is now in
great personal distress, “and now suppose he tears himself
out of this dead insensibility, and performs the action
without any inclination to it, but simply from duty, then
first has his action its genuine moral worth.”
• 173 “It is just in this that the moral worth of the character
is brought out which is incomparably the highest of all,
namely, that he is beneficent, not from inclination, but
from duty.”
• “To secure one’s own happiness is a duty, at least

indirectly.”
• Ordinary discontent and the inclination to transgress is a

constant temptation, so that one must promote one’s own
happiness as a duty “and by this would his conduct first
acquire true moral worth.”
• 173 “It is in this manner, undoubtedly, that we are to

understand those passages of Scripture also in which we
are commanded to love our neighbor, even our enemy.”
• “For love, as an affection, cannot be commanded, but

beneficence for duty’s sake may; even though we are not
impelled to it by any inclination – nay, are even repelled by
a natural and unconquerable aversion.”
• 173 “This is practical love, and not pathological – a love

which is seated in the will, and not in the propensions of
sense – in principles of action and not of tender sympathy;
and it is this love alone which can be commanded.”
• 173 “The second proposition is: That an action done from

duty derives its moral worth, not "om the purpose which is
to be attained by it, but from the maxim by which it is
determined…”
• “…and therefore does not depend on the realization of the

object of the action, but merely on the principle of volition
by which the action has taken place, without regard to any
object of desire.”
• 173 “The third proposition, which is a consequence of the

two preceding, I would express thus: Duty is the necessity of
acting "om respect for the law.”
• 173, 174 I may have inclination for an object or just bare

inclination of my own or another’s, say to do something
for the enjoyment of it.
• “It is only what is connected with my will as a principle…”

overpowering my inclination, but “simply the law of itself,
which can be an object of respect, and hence a command.”
• 174 “Now an action from duty must wholly exclude the

influence of inclination, and with it every object of the
will, so that nothing remains which can determine the will
except objectively the law, and subjectively pure respect for
this practical law…”
• “…and consequently the maxim that I should follow this

law even to the thwarting of all my inclinations.”
• 174 “Thus the moral worth of an action does not lie in the
effect expected from it,” nor on anything that depends on
the effect.
• “The pre-eminent good which we call moral can therefore

consist in nothing else than the conception of law in itself,
#hich certainly is only possible in a rational being.”
• To see this good does not require the observation of an

action, for it is good in itself.
Review of what
we’ve covered so far.
• In the “transition from the common rational knowledge of
morality to the philosophical” section we’ve encountered
four ideas.
1. The concept of the good will being good in itself

without respect to what a person does;
2. The concept of duty as being the kind of activity done

not for the goal or object to be gained but because it
fulfills the requirement of beneficence, not because a
person is inclined to do it or gains honor from doing it,
but out of a good will;
Review of what
we’ve covered so far.
3. Duty is the necessity of acting from respect for the law,

the law being the natural moral law or practical reason.
4. The pre-eminent good which we call moral can therefore

which certainly is only possible in a rational being.
Preview
• This selection from Kant includes:
• The distinction between the Hypothetical and

Categorical Imperative
• Kanťs conception of Happiness
• More on the Universal Natural Law
• Four examples of duties
• How to universalize our maxim of action

Hypothetical and Categorical
Imperatives
• 174 “Rational beings alone have the faculty of acting
according to the conception of laws, that is according to
principles….”
• “If reason infallibly determines the will , then the actions

of such a being which are recognized as objectively
necessary are subjectively necessary also,
• i.e. the will is a faculty to choose that only which reason

independent of inclination recognizes as practically
necessary, i.e. as good.”
Imperatives
• 174 “The conception of an objective principle, in so far as
it is obligatory for a will, is called a command… and the
formula of the command is called an Imperative.”
• “All imperatives are expressed by the word ought [or sha%]”

showing the relationship between the law (derived by
reason) and a will.”
• 175 “Imperatives are only formulae to express the relation

of objective laws of all volition to the subjective
imperfection of… the human will.”
Imperatives
• 175 “All imperatives command either hypothetica%y or

categorica%y.”
• “If now the action is good only as a means to something else,

then the imperative is hypothetical; if it is conceived as
good in itself and consequently as being necessarily the
principle of a will which of itself conforms to reason, then
it is categorical.”
Imperatives
• 175 To Kant, happiness is an end in itself, which we “all
actually have by a natural necessity.”
• To attain happiness one must have the skill to produce it.

Kant suggests the skill required is prudence.
• “The imperative which refers to the choice of means to

one’s own happiness… is still always hypothetical; the
action is not commanded absolutely, but only as means to
another purpose.”
• All hypothetical imperatives lead to happiness.

Imperatives
• 175, 176 A categorical imperative “commands a certain

conduct immediately, without having as its condition any
other purpose to be attained by it.”
• This is the duty of the good will.

Imperatives
• 176 Kant distinguishes 3 kinds of imperatives:
• Technical
• Pragmatic
• Moral
• He asks then how these imperatives are possible.

The Technical and Prudential
Imperative
• 176 The Technical imperative is simple. Whoever wills to
accomplish some technical goal that requires special skill
also implies that the skill must be attained to accomplish
the goal. This is an analytic or deductively logical
imperative.
• The Pragmatic imperative is not so simple. The means to

attain happiness as a goal are so varied and indefinite that
there is no particular skill of prudence that is absolutely
commanded to attain it.
The Prudential Imperative
Kanťs Conception of Happiness
• 176 “Unfortunately, the notion of happiness is so indefinite
that although every man wishes to attain it, yet he never
can say definitely and consistently what it is that he really
wishes and wills.”
• 177 “In short, he is unable, on any principle, to determine

with certainty what would make him truly happy; because
to do so he would need to be omniscient.”
• Kant will agree with Aristotle that attaining happiness

requires the exercise of the virtues, but suggests that the
required virtues are empirical, requiring practice.
The Moral Imperative
• 177 “The question how the imperative of morality is

possible, is undoubtedly one, the only one, demanding a
solution, as this is not at all hypothetical, and the
objective necessity which it presents cannot rest on any
hypothesis….”
• Kant suggests that rule against lying is one such moral

imperative, but conditions the assertion by showing that
there may be many reasons a person would avoid lying
that are pragmatic, such as the possible fear of disgrace.
• 177 Kant tells us that since the possibility of a categorical

imperative is not empirical, given to us by experience, we
must examine the rationale for assuming it to actually be
possible.
• “The unconditional command leaves the will no liberty to

choose the opposite; consequently it alone carries with it
the necessity which we require in a law.”
• Remember what is invested in Kanťs conception of the

Law.
• 177 “In the case of this categorical imperative or law of

morality, the difficulty (of discerning its possibility) is a
very profound one.”
• 178 Does the idea of even having a categorical imperative

suggest what the formula is for deriving it?
• “But when I conceive a categorical imperative, I know at

once what it contains. For the imperative contains besides
the law only the necessity that the maxims shall conform
to this law.”
The Categorical Imperative
• 178 “There is therefore but one categorical imperative,

namely, this: Act only on that maxim whereby thou canst at th&
same time wi% that it should become a universal law.”
• And since any universal law is also a law of nature, our

duty would be expressed this way: “Act as if the maxim of
the action were to become by thy wi% a universal law of nature.”
• Kant then proceeds to examine what he takes to be

universal laws of nature derivable by the categorical
imperative.
Examples
• 178, 179 Examples of duties we take to be compelling that

could be derivable by the categorical imperative:
1. Duty not to commit suicide
2. Duty not to make a lying promise
3. Duty to develop and use natural talents
4. Duty of beneficence
Examination of Duties:
Do not commit suicide.
• 178 “His maxim is: From self-love I adopt it as a principle

to shorten my life when its longer duration is likely to
bring more evil than good.”
• How can he know whether it will be evil or good?
• Isn’t it also a duty to seek to improve your life?
• To make his principle a law of nature “would be wholly

inconsistent with the supreme principle of all duty.”
Do not make a lying promise.
• 178 His maxim is: “When I think myself in want of money,

I will borrow money and promise to repay it, although I
know that I never can do so.”
• “How would it be if my maxim were a universal law?”
• Society would crumble because at the very least any

society must have trust at its foundation. Soon no one
would trust anyone if this maxim became a universal law.
Duty to develop natural gifts.
• 179 His maxim is: When in comfortable circumstances,
there is no need to enlarge and improve my happy natural
capacities.
• This could not work in any place except in the south sea
islands where everything is provided by nature.
• Ordinary life and even survival requires the development

of our natural gifts and capacities.
Duty of beneficence.
• 179 His maxim is: Though I can do good there is nothing

that requires that I do good for the less fortunate, or even
for those in desperate straits.
• This principle though not ensuring the failure of the

individual would in the case where the individual fell into
destitution leave him without any help whatsoever. Why
should anyone help this man?
Willing the Maxim
• 179 “We must be able to wi% that a maxim of our action

should be a universal law.”
• All of our duties and obligations depend on the same

principle.
Willing the Maxim
• There are perfect and imperfect duties.
• Some must be done.
• Do not lie.
• Others must be done conditionally.
• One cannot give all one’s wealth away to the poor

leaving one’s self destitute in need of charity.
A Contradiction
• 179, 180 “If we considered all cases from one and the same
point of view, namely, that of reason, we should find a
contradiction in our own will, namely, that a certain
principle should be objectively necessary as a universal law,
and yet subjectively should not be universal, but admit of
exceptions.”
Short Review
• There are categorical and hypothetical imperatives.
• The difference between them is that categorical

imperatives are absolute duties while hypothetical
imperatives are good for achieving other goals, including
happiness.
• There is only one categorical imperative. The principles

derived from it are tantamount to laws.
• Some principles are perfect and some imperfect.

Preview
• The source of a possible categorical imperative
• The Practical Imperative
• Kingdom of Ends
• Principles of Rationality
• Morality and Duty

A Source of a Possible
• 180 “ Supposing, however, that there were something
#hose existence has in itself an absolute worth, something
which, being an end in itself, could be a source of definite
laws, then in this and this alone would lie the source of a
possible categorical imperative, i.e. a practical law.”
• “Now I say: man and generally any rational being exists as

an end in himself, not merely as a means to be arbitrarily
used by this or that will… [and] must be always regarded at
the same time as an end.”
The Practical Imperative
• 180 “Rational beings… are called persons, because their very

nature points them out as ends in themselves, that is as
something which must not be used merely as a means.”
• “The foundation of this principle is: rational nature exists as

an end in itself.”
• “Accordingly the practical imperative will be as follows: so

act as to treat humanity whether in thine own person or in that of
any other, in every case as an end withal, never as means only.”
• Return to the four examples:
• 180 “Under the head of necessary duty to oneself: He who

contemplates suicide should ask himself whether his
action can be consistent with the idea of humanity as a'
end in itself. If he destroys himself… he uses a person merely
as a mean….”
• 181 “As regards necessary duties, or those of strict

obligation to others; he who is thinking of making a lying
promise to others will see at once that he would be using
another man merely as a mean….”
• 181 “As regards contingent duties to oneself; it is not

enough that an action does not violate humanity in our
own person as an end in itself, it must also harmonize with
it.”
• Kant has a view about human improvement. With respect

to human improvement, a person who does not improve
himself, is not contrary to treating man as an end in
himself, but is contrary to advancement toward the
inevitable improvement of mankind.
• 181 “As regards meritorious duties toward others: the

natural end which all men have is their own happiness.
Now humanity might indeed subsist, although no one
should contribute anything to the happiness of others…”
• Here as in the self improvement example we begin to see

what Kant intends for the community of humans. There is
something besides duty that binds us all together.
• We do not have an absolute duty to improve ourselves or

to provide mankind with happiness.
• 181 Disappointingly, “all the labor spent in finding a

supreme principle of duty was irrevocably lost.”
• “In any case the imperative must be conditional, and could

not by any means be capable of being a moral command.”
• “I will therefore call this the principle of Autonomy of the

will.”
The Kingdom of Ends
• 181 “The conception of every rational being as one which

must consider itself as giving in all the maxims of its will
universal laws… [is] that of a kingdom of ends.”
• “By a kingdom I understand the union of different rational

beings in a system by common laws.”
• 181, 182 “For all rational beings come under the law that
each of them must treat itself and all others never merely as
means, but in every case at the same time as ends in themselves.”
The Kingdom of Ends
• 182 “A rational being belongs as a member to the kingdom

of ends when although giving universal laws in it, he is also
himself subject to these laws.”
• “He belongs to it as sovereign when, while giving laws, he is

not subject to the will of any other.”
Reiteration of the
• 182 “This principle, then, is its supreme law: Act always on

such a maxim as thou canst at the same time will to be a
universal law; this is the sole condition under which a will
can never contradict itself; and such an imperative is
categorical.”
Alternate Restatements of the
• 182 “Act on maxims which can at the same time have for their
object themselves as universal laws of nature.”
• “Such then is the formula of an absolutely good will.
• What Kant has done here is to put every rational being

into the kingdom of ends. In this kingdom, each
participant is both a lawmaker and a subject to the same
laws.
Alternate Restatements of the
• 182 “So act in regard to every rational being (thyself and

others), that he may always have place in thy maxim as an
end in himself….”
• “Act upon a maxim which, at the same time, involves its

own universal validity for every rational being.”
Principles of Rationality
• 182 “In this way a world of rational beings… is possible as a

kingdom of ends, and this by virtue of the legislation
proper to all persons as members.”
• 183 “A kingdom of ends is thus only possible… by maxims,

that is self-imposed rules…”
• “And it is this that makes every rational subject worthy to

be a legislative member in the kingdom of ends: for
otherwise he would have to be conceived only as subject
to the physical law of his wants.”
Morality and Duty
• 183 “Morality, then, is the relation of actions to the

autonomy of the will, that is to the potential universal
legislation by its maxims.”
• “An action that is consistent with the autonomy of the will

is permitted; one that does not agree therewith is forbidden.”
• “A will whose maxims necessarily coincide with the laws of

autonomy is a holy will, good absolutely.”
• “The objective necessity of actions from obligation is

called duty.”
Dignity
• 183 “The dignity of humanity consists just in this capacity

of being universally legislative, though with the condition
that it is itself subject to this same legislation.”
Review i
• In the “transition from the common rational knowledge of
morality to the philosophical” section we’ve encountered
four ideas.
1. The concept of the good will being good in itself

without respect to what a person does;
2. The concept of duty as being the kind of activity done

not for the goal or object to be gained but because it
fulfills the requirement of beneficence, not because a
person is inclined to do it or gains honor from doing it,
but out of a good will;
Review ii
3. Duty is the necessity of acting from respect for the law,

the law being the natural moral law or practical reason.
4. The pre-eminent good which we call moral can therefore

which certainly is only possible in a rational being.
Review iii
• There are categorical and hypothetical imperatives.
• The difference between them is that categorical

imperatives are absolute duties while hypothetical
imperatives are good for achieving other goals, including
happiness.
• There is only one categorical imperative. The principles

derived from it are tantamount to laws.
• Some principles are perfect and some imperfect.

Review iv
• The source of a possible categorical imperative is the

individual rational person
• The Practical Imperative: never treat anyone as a merely a
means.
• Kingdom of Ends: by exercising the categorical imperative
to create laws that take into account the practical
imperative we become subject to those same laws.
• Principles of Rationality
• Morality and Duty
Review v
• Principles of Rationality:
• “And it is this that makes every rational subject worthy

to be a legislative member in the kingdom of ends: for
otherwise he would have to be conceived only as
subject to the physical law of his wants.”
Review v
• Morality and Duty:
• 183 “Morality, then, is the relation of actions to the

autonomy of the will, that is to the potential universal
legislation by its maxims.”
• “An action that is consistent with the autonomy of the

will is permitted; one that does not agree therewith is
forbidden.”
• “The objective necessity of actions from obligation is

called duty.”

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Duty and

• This selection from Kant includes:

• The description of the Good Will

• The concept of Duty

• An introduction to the Natural Moral Law

• The Philosophical Knowledge of Morality

• 171 “Nothing can possibly be conceived in the world, or

• “Intelligence, wit, judgment, and the other talents of the

• The Philosophical Knowledge of Morality

• 171 “…but these gifts of nature may also become

• “The sight of a being who is not adorned with a single

• 171 “Thus a good will appears to constitute the

• 171 “ Moderation in the aﬀections and passions, self-

• “But they are far from deserving to be called good without

• “For without the principles of a good will, they may

• 171 The good will is good in itself and more to be

• It is good even if it performs no act.

• 172 “Its usefulness or fruitlessness can neither add nor take

• In order to clear up the idea of good will we will examine

• The ﬁrst proposition is that in order to have moral worth

• 172 “For example, it is always a matter of duty that a dealer

• But it is not a duty when the shopkeeper has done this as

• It is not a matter of duty when there is some inclination

• It is only duty when any other motivation is taken away

• 172 “To be beneﬁcent when we can is a duty; and besides

• But this has no moral worth because it is on par with

• “To secure one’s own happiness is a duty, at least

• Ordinary discontent and the inclination to transgress is a

• 173 “It is in this manner, undoubtedly, that we are to

• “For love, as an aﬀection, cannot be commanded, but

• 173 “This is practical love, and not pathological – a love

• 173 “The second proposition is: That an action done from

• “…and therefore does not depend on the realization of the

• 173 “The third proposition, which is a consequence of the

• 173, 174 I may have inclination for an object or just bare

• “It is only what is connected with my will as a principle…”

• 174 “Now an action from duty must wholly exclude the

• “…and consequently the maxim that I should follow this

• “The pre-eminent good which we call moral can therefore

• To see this good does not require the observation of an

1. The concept of the good will being good in itself

2. The concept of duty as being the kind of activity done

3. Duty is the necessity of acting from respect for the law,

4. The pre-eminent good which we call moral can therefore

• This selection from Kant includes:

• The distinction between the Hypothetical and

• Kanťs conception of Happiness

• More on the Universal Natural Law

• Four examples of duties

• How to universalize our maxim of action

• “If reason infallibly determines the will , then the actions

• i.e. the will is a faculty to choose that only which reason

• “All imperatives are expressed by the word ought [or sha%]”

• 175 “Imperatives are only formulae to express the relation

• 175 “All imperatives command either hypothetica%y or

• “If now the action is good only as a means to something else,

• To attain happiness one must have the skill to produce it.

• “The imperative which refers to the choice of means to

• All hypothetical imperatives lead to happiness.

• 175, 176 A categorical imperative “commands a certain

• This is the duty of the good will.

• 176 Kant distinguishes 3 kinds of imperatives:

• He asks then how these imperatives are possible.