Immanuel Kant and the Categorical Imperative

In this episode of the BBC podcast 'In Our Time' a panel of philosophers discuss the nature of Immanuel Kant's Categorical Imperative.

Introduction to Ethics

Introduction to ethics

Ethics Notes

Introduction to Ethics

To What Extent Does Religion Drive Morality?

In this talk Will Gervais, of the University of Kentucky, discusses popular perceptions of atheists. His work suggests that we have a predisposition to believe that religious people are more likely to be moral people.

He tried to take into account the problem of people being biased towards their own religious group. However, I do see some possible methodological flaws in his work. For example, if faced with the question of whether an immoral person is likely to be an atheist, gay or of a certain race, are they more likely to intuitively pick the atheist to avoid appearing bigoted? Nevertheless it is an interesting question and his work seems to be ongoing.

Marc Hauser on Morality

Marc Hauser is a Harvard Biologist who is best known for his work on the origins of morality in animals. He famously produced a series of moral dilemmas involving a runaway train (which I previously posted here).

In these clips he answers a number of questions about morality in humans.

1. If we have a moral instinct, why did it evolve? What are the advantages?




2. Where do most people get their ideas of right and wrong?

3. Is there a genetic element to morality?

4. Are we still evolving? If so, is our moral instinct evolving as well?

What is Happiness?

Acceptance of utilitarianism (as postulated by John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham) implies a belief that ethics are based on 'the greatest happiness of the greatest number'. This may appear to be intuitively appealing, but it certainly not easy to define 'happiness' objectively.

Happiness does not always equate to pleasure, and some pleasures are base, empty or malicious. For some philosophers, like Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881), measuring happiness could in no way form the basis of a profound philosophical theory of ethics. Carlyle referred to utilitarianism as 'pig philosophy', appealing to '... the swinish pleasures of the multitude'.

In the article below, the author explores the meaning and forms of happiness.

What is Happiness

Does Morality Exist in Animals

This essay taken from Aeon magazine questions whether only humans have a sense of morality. it makes a nice companion to a previous article I posted about Richard Dawkins' ideas of the origins of morality in human ancestors.

The Kindness of Beasts

John Stuart Mill

John Stuart Mill was born in London in 1806. Although he never attended school, his education was among the most remarkable ever. He was instructed entirely by his father, James Mill, who had him learning Greek at the age of three and Latin at eight. By the time he was 14 he had read most of the Greek and Latin classics (in the original languages), and become expert in widely differing fields, such as history and mathematics. His social and political liberalism had also been shaped at an early age under the influence of his father and his father’s associate, Jeremy Bentham. Regarding his reading of Bentham, Mill said: “…the feeling rushed upon me, that all previous moralists were superseded, and that here indeed was the commencement of a new era of thought.”

In 1823, Mill became a clerk for the East India Company where his father was also employed. He remained with the company until 1858, eventually advancing to a high position. In 1826, Mill fell into a deep depression, which, in his autobiography, he likened to the lines of Coleridge:

A grief without a pang void, dark and drear,
A drowsy, stifled, unimpassioned grief,
Which finds no natural outlets or relief
In word, or sigh, or tear.

After many months he rallied from this depression, aided by his own insight, ‘Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you will cease to be so,’ and by the poetry of Wordsworth.

The woman in Mill’s life was Mrs. Harriet Taylor, whom he met when he was 25. They sustained a platonic relationship for 20 years. Three years after her husband’s death, Mill married her, and when, in 1858 while they were touring France together, she herself died, Mill bought a house in Avignon in order to be near her grave. Mill called her ‘the most admirable person I have ever known’, and referred to his relationship with her as ‘the honour and chief blessing of my existence’. He also attributed to her much of the inspiration and content of his writings.

Although Mill never held an academic position, over many years he frequently contributed articles to journals and magazines and produced many volumes. His philosophical magnum opus was the System of Logic, published in 1843. A great champion of liberal causes and representative government, Mill was encouraged in 1865 to stand for election to Parliament. He refused to campaign, contribute to expenses, or defend his views, and won. He was defeated in the next election, 1868, and thereupon spent his time either in London or in Avignon, something of a recluse, cared for by his wife's daughter, Helen. After a brief illness, he died in 1873.

Some of Mill’s more important works are: System of Logic, Utilitarianism, Subjection of Women, Principles of Political Economy, On Liberty, Utility of Religion, and Autobiography.

[Incidentally, he was also the godfather and mentor of Bertrand Russell]

Taken from: Questions that Matter, an Invitation to Philosophy, by Ed L. Miller, 1993, McGraw Hill

Immanuel Kant

The historian of philosophy Frederick Copleston has described Kant’s life as ‘singularly uneventful and devoid of dramatic incident’. Immanuel Kant was born in 1724 in Konigsberg, East Prussia, (now Russia) on the Baltic Sea. Kant’s father (who immigrated from Scotland and changed the family name from Cant to Kant) was a saddler. The family was large, poor and religious. They were Pietists, (something like Prussian Puritans) and the continuous round of prayers, religious instruction and observances is no doubt why Kant in his adult years never attended public worship except on extraordinary occasions. On the other hand he embraced to the end the ethical principles of his early religious upbringing.


In 1740, he entered the University of Konigsberg where he drank in a broad survey of many fields: metaphysics, physics, algebra, geometry, psychology, astronomy, and logic. At the conclusion of the studies he earned a sparse livelihood by becoming a tutor to the Prussian gentry. It was during this time that he was introduced to high society, though he soon withdrew into the ivory tower of academic life. In 1755, he took what we would call a doctoral degree and became a lecturer at the university. In 1770, he was made professor. He taught and published first in science, anticipating Laplace’s nebular hypothesis concerning the origin of the Universe and early theories of evolution. But he turned gradually to metaphysics. His lectures were said to be lively and even humorous – though one would never guess this from most of his writings.

In 1781, at the ripe age of 57, he published the monumental Critique of Pure Reason. This was followed by the Critique of Practical Reason and the Critique of Judgment. According to the German writer Herder, ‘Kant spoke the profoundest language that ever came from the lips of man’. Profound perhaps, but perhaps also the most exasperating. He gave the manuscript of his first Critique to a colleague, Marcus Hertz. Hertz returned it half-read, with the explanation: ‘If I finish it, I’m afraid I shall go mad!’

Kant lectured at the University for over 40 years. In all this time he never  travelled more than 60 miles from Konigsberg, and for 40 years he did not spend so much as a single night outside the city. Kant was a small man (about five feet tall), extremely frail, and somewhat distorted in his frame. He was meticulous about his health, verging on the neurotic. His daily routine was extremely fixed, beginning every morning at 4:55. It’s is reported that his daily walk was so regular that he strolled for exactly one hour, eight times up and down the Linden Allee (which came to be nicknamed ‘The Philosopher’s Walk”) and so punctual that’s the townspeople set their clocks by it. He never married, and was, in fact, something of a misogynist. He died in senile dementia on February 12, 1804.

Kant’s most important philosophical works include: Critique of Pure Reason, Critique of Practical Reason, Critique of Judgment, Prelegomena to any Future Metaphysics, Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, Metaphysical First Principles of Natural Science, Religion within the Bounds of Reason Alone, and On Perpetual Peace.

Kant's death mask

Taken from: Questions that Matter, an Invitation to Philosophy, by Ed L. Miller, 1993, McGraw Hill

Teaching Ethics

I've never given much thought to how children learn about ethics, but it seems we can learn a lot from fairy stories:

Happily Ever After

Religion vs Secularism

In this debate (recorded in Sydney, Australia, in March 2013) British philosopher A.C. Grayling joins Sean Faircloth, director of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, Jesuit priest Father Frank Brennan and the Hon. Pru Goward M.P. to discuss the influence of religion in Australia and the U.S. The speakers discuss whether the church and state should or can ever be decisively divided, and where each institution stands among evolving social and political values:

Knowledge and Responsibility

As hideous as the ongoing Lance Armstrong debacle has been, it has provided some interesting talking points in terms of TOK. His recent confession to drug use throughout his career has led to his fans retrospectively reassessing their knowledge of him and his achievements.

He was especially vehement when attacking those who questioned his reputation, and wrote two (fraudulent) autobiographies: It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life (2000) and Every Second Counts (2003). Until he was forced into his confession he and his supporters denied that he was guilty of any wrongdoing, and now he is undergoing an agonising and embarrassing fall from the heights of fame and adulation.

As reported in the article below, Armstrong is now facing a class action lawsuit in the U.S., brought by disenchanted fans who bought his books. This poses questions about the extent to which those who disseminate false information are ethically, legally and financially responsible for it.

There are some parallels with the story of the scientists and government official in Italy who were found guilty of manslaughter in 2012 after failing to accurately predict an earthquake in the village of L'Aquila. However, they disseminated false information unknowingly, while Armstrong was all too aware that he was doing so knowingly.

Lance Armstrong

Complementary and Alternative Medicine

The James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) has made it its mission to expose what it considers to be fraudulent or misleading behaviour by people in positions of influence and power. In his most famous cases, Randi turned his own attention to faith healers, and in particular Peter Popoff.

Recently the JREF has focused on practitioners of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). This has become a hot topic in the UK, where healthcare is publicly funded through the National Health Service (NHS). Despite vocal opposition by the British Medical Association, many medical practices now offer alternative treatments such as acupuncture or homeopathy and homeopathic hospitals have been founded in London, Liverpool and Bristol.

The British government currently provides financial support for alternative therapies amounting to around £4 million per year (source The British Homeopathic Association), and many argue that this is a good deal in terms of the perceived benefits. There is significant celebrity endorsement of CAM, and Prince Charles has been particularly outspoken on the issue. There exists, however, no credible scientific and statistically significant evidence that CAM works any better than placebo (as reported exhaustively by Dr. Ben Goldacre in his Bad Science blog).

Many people would say that it is an individual's right to believe what they like, and even if these beliefs turn out to be based on untruths they may still be sources of comfort, especially in times of distress (a relativistic point of view). The placebo effect is powerful and little understood and therefore it could also be argued that it is beneficial to allow or even encourage people to maintain their existing beliefs, particularly in relation to their own health. This does sound somewhat patronising, however, and is suggestive of willful support of public ignorance.

In the article below, Dr. Steven Novella (member of the JREF and clinical neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine) proposes that CAM should be considered not just to have no medical merit but to be actively dangerous to public health. He discusses a real life situation in which a woman with a cancerous growth decided to consult a practitioner of alternative rather than conventional medicine.
Is It Dangerous to Believe in CAM?

Ethical Orientations

One theory of ethics proposes that there are two basic ethical orientations: the ethic of care and the ethic of justice. The former is based on the importance of relationships and individual responsibility, while the latter is based on the application of a sense of fairness or law. Proponents of this idea would hold that your ethical orientation can be determined by the way you approach ethical dilemmas, although they are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

The questionnaire below is an attempt to allow you to determine your own ethical orientation:

Ethics - Questionnaire 01 from Lico Reis

Ethics and the Free Market

Michael Sandel is Professor of Political Philosophy at Harvard University. He has commented extensively on the free market and how it affects public ethics. It is interesting to think about how money and our perception of wealth affect our ethical decisions, as he outlines in this video clip:

I've provided a link below to a discussion in which he and an audience at the London School of Economics address the ethical question of whether a nurse should be paid more than a banker:

Glossary of Philosophy

Enlightenment Rationalism Empiricism The Encyclopaedists Analytic synthetic distinction Logic Determinism Kant	Romanticism Rousseau Schelling and Coleridge Hegel Idealism Vs. Materialism Hegel's Dialectics Marx's Dialectical Materialism Schopenhauer & Nietzsche	Analytic Philosophy Bertrand Russell Wittgenstein: Tractatus Wittgenstein: Language Games The Private Language Argument Richard Rorty Timeline	Existentialism Kierkegaard: The solitary wanderer Martin Heidegger Edmund Husserl Sartre: Existence precedes essence Albert Camus
God Proofs of God's Existence: Argument from design Ontological argument Cosmological argument Pascal's Wager Kierkegaard Marx Nietzsche The Death of God	Mind Plato Aristotle Leibniz Epiphenomenalism Dualism Descartes Identity Theory Spinoza Behaviourism Ryle Ghost in the machine	Natural Science Popper Kuhn Feyerabend Science in the post- modern world	Moral philosophy Kant's Categorical Imperative Utilitarianism Nietzsche: The genealogy of morals Sartre and Bad Faith

Autism, Empathy and Ethics

I posted a video recently in an attempt to show the link between ethics and empathy. If you define ethics along the lines of the practical application of morals in society (as we have in the class), then it follows that without some form of empathy (to understand the effect of your actions on others) you are unable to employ a true ethical code.

A common (mis)conception is that people with autism lack the ability to empathise. I'll admit to being guilty of thinking like this in the past. If this is true then it could be argued that autistic people lack the ability to be ethical. In her blog existence is wonderful, Anne Corwin (who has herself been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome) shows this is a fallacy, and that while autistic people perhaps have a different take on empathy, they cannot be catagorised as non-ethical. She makes the point that the act of labelling and categorising people is, in itself, very harmful.

This makes me think that coming up with a useful and usable definition of ethics is much more difficult than you might think. Incidentally, if you are interested in seeing the autism-spectrum quotient test that she refers to in the article, I have found a copy of it here.
Autism and Empathy

Empathy and Ethics

Morality in Animals

I've posted some ideas about this subject previously (in particular the thoughts of Richard Dawkins on the origin of morality). In this TED Talk Frans de Waal, professor of Primate Behaviour at the Emory University Psychology Department in Atlanta, Georgia (famous for their work with Chantek the orangutan), gives his views on the existence of moral behaviour in animals.