Explain the categorical Imperative as a tool for moral decision making

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Explain the categorical Imperative as a tool for moral decision making (25)

“A categorical imperative would be one which represented an action as objectively necessary in itself, without reference to any other purpose” Immanuel Kant 

Immanuel Kant was an 18th Century German philosopher, most notable for his work on Ethics. Ethics is the philosophical study of moral action; it’s not just about judging people per say but rather looking at right and wrong as concepts in themselves and how we might understand the best way for people to behave.

There are two general schools of thought on this, Teleological thoughts divide right from wrong entirely based on the consequences of an action (‘the ends justifies the means’), Deontology on the other hand, is the position that the consequences don’t really matter because moral judgment is contained in the act alone. Kant was a deontologist who proposed an absolute stone cold objective unbreakable moral law which he called the Categorical Imperative. The Categorical Imperative is based upon Kant’s idea that morality is derived from rationality and all moral judgments are logically supported.

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The Categorical Imperative is an absolute non negotiable universal moral law that holds up regardless of context or circumstance, therefore it applies to every single person on this Earth, not depending on religion or society. Kant was absolutely unwavering about this point; what’s right is right and what’s wrong is wrong, consequently making it everyone’s duty to abide in the same equal way.

The Categorical Imperative can be broken down into 3 maxims, the first maxim is that all our actions must have universality – in other words we should only do something if we think it will be okay ...

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