Mackenzie O'Hare

Western Thought
Kevin Dyck

Kant Questions
1. Kant believes that there is nothing that can be concieved in the world as good without
qualification, expect that of goodwill.
2.Many virtues are not intrinsically good because although virtues are desired and good in nature, if the
character who has them is bad then the virtues become bad.
3.
4.Happiness can lead to pride and presumption if there is no other trait to stop it.
5.Another example would be a police officer. Their duty to ensure the safety of the people. They can't
deny helping someone who is in danger or being threatened regardless of who they are.
6.I believe in Williams argument, when someone does it not out of a sense of duty it is likeley to be
more pure and based on good intentions.
7.Kant says first that its a persons responsibility and their duty to speak out there own happiness but
later says those who seek out happiness cause more unhappiness.
8.He says that it would be a practical love, like a duty to love that person.
9.Kant's second proposition states that your duty find moral worth from your maxim or intention, not
from what the end result is.
10.The maxim destroys itself because if everyone made false promises there would be no truths at all.
11.A hypothetical imperative is an action that is carried out to achieve something else. A categorical
imperative is an action that is carried out to achieve something in itself.
12.The first formulation is to only act on intentions or goals that would at the same time be a universal
law.
13.A perfect duty is not to act in ways that would result in logical or practical contradictions. An
imperfect duty is to act on things we want people to do.
14.A)'I should kill myself' contradicts the law of nature and self-preservation by taking your own life
in a point that is troubling for you. B)”I should make false promises” contradicts because you intend to
make a promise that isn't really a promise.
16.“Act to treat humanity, whether in thine own person or in that of any other, in every caseas an
end withal, never as a means only.”
17. A)'I should kill myself' would be inconsistent with humanity as an the end in itself because that
desire to kill yourself goes against the natural desire for self preservation. B) 'I should make false
promises' is inconsistent because people would no longer believe in promises and there would be no
such thing as a promise.
18. A) 'I will not develop my talents' is inconsistent with humanity because it goes against the
desire for improvement. B) 'I need not help others' is inconsistent because everyone is responsible with
their own happiness.