Week 3B: Kant and Deontology
The second readings for this week are about Kant’s moral theory. It is a deontological theory, meaning that it centers around duties and obligations. Part of this is that in order to be moral, we must treat others with respect, and recognize the autonomy, or self-legislating nature, of the individual. A major difference between Kant and Mill is that for Kant, our motives definitely matter. In fact, if we don’t act for the right reason, even if we do “good” or produce good consequences, the act doesn’t count as moral.
So, similar to our other discussion, ask yourselves which is more important: doing good things no matter what the motive, or doing them for the right reason? After reading Kant’s arguments, do you think our motives should matter?
