Hi!
I need a 4-6 double-spaced pages, formatted in Times New Roman 12pt font with 1” margins. Please confine yourself to the course materials - no outside research!
- What is effective altruism, and what are some of the problems with it from a Kantian point of view?
- What is the Kantian definition of “racism”? What is wrong with “diversity trainings,” from a Kantian point of view?
Below, I will provide all of the relevant articles and PowerPoint / notes in order to complete the two questions above.
Overview
- This lecture covers Norman Bowie's application of Kantian ethics to business ethics; Bowie is described as the "premier" moral philosopher in business ethics due to his expertise as a Kantian
- Kant wrote his moral philosophy contemporaneously with Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations and the liberal democratic revolutions of the late 18th century, a period described as foundational for the moral norms of modern capitalism
Kant vs. Utilitarianism
- For utilitarians (e.g., Bentham), what matters is consequences — rational self-interest drives behavior toward pleasure and away from pain
- For Kant, what matters is intention — acting from duty, not from interest or desire for happiness; the cliché "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" is a consequentialist adage Kant would reject
- Kant argues humans are not enslaved to feelings of pain and pleasure; they possess a rational, willing faculty capable of overriding bodily impulses
Key Kantian Concepts
- Goodwill: The highest good; a will is good when it acts from duty rather than interest or happiness
- Duty: The most objective element within the self — what pure reason, unencumbered by feelings, interests, or desires, commands
- Dignity: The human capacity to act other than how the body dictates — to bracket hunger, pain, or fear and participate in society; forms the basis for rejecting bigotry
- Hypothetical imperatives: Reason in its everyday use — conditional instructions for achieving a desired end (e.g., turn-by-turn directions to get a sandwich)
- Categorical imperative: Reason in its pure, self-legislative form — unconditional commands issued by reason itself, independent of any desired outcome
Dignity, Freedom, and Bigotry
- Racism and sexism are framed as denying dignity — treating people as determined by their bodies rather than by their free rational choices
- Bigotry diminishes the dignity of the bigot, not just the target; the Starbucks example (a barista calling police on two innocent Black men) illustrates how implicit racial fear is itself an expression of lost dignity and irrationality
- Frederick Douglass's autobiography is cited as a powerful account of how slavery was dehumanizing for the enslaver as well as the enslaved
The Three Formulations of the Categorical Imperative
- Three formulations are introduced :
- Universal law: "Act only on maxims which you can will to be universal laws of nature" — covered in this lecture
- Humanity as end: "Always treat the humanity in a person as an end and never merely as a means" — to be discussed in class
- Kingdom of ends: "Act as if you are a member of an ideal kingdom of ends in which you are both subject and sovereign" — to be discussed in class
First Formulation: The Universal Law Test
- A maxim is the specific local value framing an action; an act is the concrete decision made in a specific time and place
- The test asks: What would happen if everyone, everywhere, at all times acted on this maxim?
- Three-step process :
- Identify the temptation/maxim (e.g., "I may lie when it's convenient")
- Universalize the maxim (e.g., everyone lies all the time)
- Ask whether the original act would still be possible under universalization
Examples of the Universal Law Test
- Lying: If everyone lied whenever convenient, truth would dissolve — and lying itself would become impossible since it depends on a baseline of truth to imitate
- Stealing: If everyone stole whenever they desired, the institution of private property would collapse, rendering theft meaningless and society a Hobbesian state of war
- Queue-cutting (Bowie's example): In a society that practices queuing, cutting the line is morally wrong — universalizing line-cutting destroys the very concept of a line
- GM / José López: López renegotiated supplier contracts after they were legally closed, saving GM billions; this practice spread widely in business — Bowie uses this to show that suspending accepted social institutions like contracts is deeply problematic from a Kantian view, since contracts require a prior moral commitment to uphold them ; the López example will be revisited when discussing Aristotle and character
Key Takeaway
- Kantian morality is about internal coherence and consistency — look for contradictions between your own maxims and the social institutions you depend on
- Honoring social institutions is achieved not by calculating consequences (utilitarianism) but by ensuring one's own duty is coherent and consistent — Kant is described as "the philosopher of consistency, of coherence, of orderliness"
Links to use and reference as well:
https://jacobin.com/2020/09/workplace-anti-racism-trainings-trump-corporate-america
https://www.scu.edu/leadership-ethics/resources/the-ceo-of-starbucks-and-the-practice-of-ethical-leadership/
Thank you so much for the help, and if you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.