The Categorical Imperative

The categorical imperative is a concept created by Kant which seeks to establish a standard for actions and their resulting morality. In contrast to utilitarianism, which often asserts morality in terms of the hypothetical, Kant seeks to establish morality in terms of the categorical or universal. Kant states that to determine the morality of an action, one must create a maxim regarding that action and then universalize it to understand whether the action is justified for all people. If the action cannot be justified for all people, the action must be immoral. This can be applied to the concept of lying or false promises. For example, if a debt collector is looking to collect money from Phil, and Phil says he doesn’t have any money even though he does, how do you determine the morality of that action? The basic idea is to universalize that idea. So we imagine a world where it is a universal law that every time a collector calls a debtor and asks for money, that the debtor lies about having money. This idea presents an inherent contradiction. If it’s a universal law, then the collector knows that the debtor will lie about having money so he will not believe him. And so if he does not believe him, then the lie will not work. So, lies are an inherent contradiction and are thus proven to not be morally justifiable.

---