Kant the Universal Law Formation of the Categorical...

Kant: the Universal Law Formation of the Categorical Imperative Kantian philosophy outlines the Universal Law Formation of the Categorical Imperative as a method for determining morality of actions. This formula is a two part test. First, one creates a maxim and considers whether the maxim could be a universal law for all rational beings. Second, one determines whether rational beings would will it to be a universal law. Once it is clear that the maxim passes both prongs of the test, there are no exceptions. As a paramedic faced with a distraught widow who asks whether her late husband suffered in his accidental death, you must decide which maxim to create and based on the test which action to perform. The maxim when answering†¦show more content†¦For example, the maxim could read, When facing a distraught widow whose late husband has driven off a bridge at night, and he struggled to get out of the car but ended up drowning, and he was wearing a brown suit and brown loafers, then you should tell the widow that he died instantly in order to spare her feelings. We can easily imagine a world in which all paramedics lied to widows in this specific situation. That does not necessarily mean that it will pass the second test however. Even if it does pass the first test, narrowing down maxim can create other problems. For instance circumstances may change and the people who were originally included in the universal law, may not be included anymore. Consequently you many not want to will your maxim to be a universal law. Likewise, if one person can make these maxims that include only a select group of people, so can everyone else. If you create a maxim about lying to widows that is specific enough to pass the first test, so can everyone else. One must ask if rational beings would really will such a world in which there would be many, many specific, but universal, laws. In order to answer this question, one must use the rational I for the statement I, as a rational being would will such a world, not the specific, embodied I which represents you in your present condition. You must consider that you could be the widow in the situation rather thanShow MoreRelatedKant s Notion Of Good991 Words   |  4 PagesKant’s notion of good; For Kant, he starts out by saying, â€Å"Nothing in the world—or out of it!—can possibly be conceived that could be called ‘good’ without qualification except a GOOD WILL† (Kant, 2008). Kant further explains this statement through the first and second chapter. 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