We call in our language as ethics everything that belongs to or is related to this branch of philosophy that deals with the morality of human actions and that according to their circumstances will allow us to qualify them as good or bad.
Also, the concept of ethics designates everything that adheres to morality and good customs and the series of norms that regulate a relationship or human behavior within a specific context such as medicine, law, journalism, among others. other professional activities.
Within the vast universe of ethics we can find various aspects and currents that were developed and proposed throughout history by various philosophers, then we will refer to the Formal Ethics proposed by the great German philosopher Immanuel Kant.
Formal ethics or Kantian ethics promotes freedom, dignity and goodwill above all else.
The Formal Ethicsis what is known as Kantian Ethicsin homage to its promoter, the German philosopher Immanuel Kant.
Regarding the history of ethics and the theory of knowledge, in the XVIII centurythere will be a schism with the appearance on the scene of the German philosopher Emmanuel Kant, on the one hand, because of his critique of pure reason and on the other hand because his proposition of a formal ethic certainly came to contrast with the current material ethic.
Your ethical proposal promotes the freedom and dignity of all men above all things. Kant held that the objectively good is a goodwillthe rest of the things that we usually consider as valuable, such as intelligence, courage, wealth, among others, are not, and can even become dangerous for man when what prevails is a crooked will.
essential features
According to Kant, man possesses both reason and instinct, meanwhile, reason not only has a theoretical function but also a practical one whose objective is to seek moral good.
Now, according to Kant, reason can hardly make someone happy, because the wise man, based on his intellect, will quickly discover death, illness, poverty, among other unpleasant situations, while the good acts that come from Practical reason does not lead to happiness, although it is possible for the simplest man to find happiness without the need for reason and with his mere instinct. Therefore, Kant argues that if the end of man was precisely happiness, nature had not endowed us with a practical reason that makes judgments that do not lead us to happiness, then it is a fact that man was endowed with that reason by an end much higher than happiness.
From the foregoing it is discovered that moral acts are not evaluable based on their results because they are not chosen to achieve something but for themselves, because the result of an act considered good can be harmful, but anyway, the act it will continue to be good, because for Kant the most important thing in a moral act is what moves it.
Another relevant concept within the Kantian proposal is the categorical imperative, which are those acts commanded by duty; this imperative will always command but without any purpose, only out of respect for duty, therefore, the man who follows it, who is capable of commanding himself, will be a free being.
Just as it is conceived that the moral law cannot contain anything empirical, the categorical imperative cannot contain it either, only the form of the moral.
Kant liked to say in this regard that one had to act according to the maxim in such a way that you can want it to become a universal law at the same time; He also recommended acting as if the maximum action were to become by one’s own will a universal law of nature; and finally he said that it was necessary to act in such a way that humanity is used both in the person of one and in that of another, always as an end and never as a means.
None of the proposals expressed by Kant had anything linked to experience, but only concerns the form of morality. He never told the other how he should behave in a concrete and express way, nor did he advocate any norm as the only one, nor did he promote an end with interest of any kind.
He emphasized the universality of our actions and always favoring what one’s own will determines, thus making the freedom and autonomy of the people who decide prevail.
For him, the will could not be subject to any element of experience, much less, it must be free and the imperative that is the one that has the mission of regulating it does not promote any behavior, while the will must be given per se a norm. of conduct, attributing to it an absolute autonomous character.
What has distinguished Kantian ethics from the rest of ethics is the focus on the forms of ethical decisions.
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