“Act according to a maxim which can at the same time make itself a universal law.” =============== The problem is that at this point the categorical imperative is empty. It is morally vacuous. Consider this quote attributed to Genghis Khan, and Khan was no hypocrite. “The greatest happiness is to scatter your enemy, to drive him before you, to see his cities reduced to ashes, to see those who love him shrouded in tears, and to gather into your bosom his wives and daughters." With a few small changes in wording, this can easily become a maxim that can “make itself a universal law.” I, personally, recoil from such a world, and I hope you do too. But even if you accept it for yourself, rejection or acceptance of Khan’s maxim must be based on something outside of Kant’s categorical imperative. This is where we arrive at something called the “kingdom of ends.” Quoting Kant. ------------------ “The conception of the will of every rational being as one which must consider itself as giving in all the maxims of its will universal laws, so as to judge itself and its actions from this point of view - this conception leads to another which depends on it and is very fruitful, namely that of a kingdom of ends.” (pg. 274)
Posted on: Wed, 05 Jun 2013 22:21:54 +0000