Here is the synopsis of our sample research paper on The Concept of Reason in Kantian Ethics. Have the paper e-mailed to you 24/7/365.
Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 7 page paper examines Kant's categorical imperative. Reason is discussed throughout the paper and how it contradicts, but may be reconciled with, the absolute thinking of the categorical imperative.
Bibliography lists 6 sources.
Page Count:
7 pages (~225 words per page)
File: RT13_SA618Knt.rtf
Buy This Term Paper »
Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
ethics as something absolute. Things are black and white. There are no shades of gray. At the same time, reasoning comes into play which to some extent contradicts the original
claim. How can one include reason and apply it to something that has already been decided? The question that looms large is whether or not Kant really did see reason
as important and there are two points of view. Guyer (1998), in discussing the value of reason, refers to Kants ideas and suggests that, through an examination of several authors,
Kant saw the human being as reasonable. In other words, Guyer examined a variety of authors in respect to reason, and he concluded that Kant saw human beings as being
attached to reason. According to this interpretation of Kant, people would for example make decisions in their own best interest most of the time (Guyer, 1998). They would look at
the consequences and see what was best for them to do (Guyer, 1998). In some way, one can argue that Kant does include reason as part of ethics. At
the same time, it is difficult to reconcile this thinking with the categorical imperative. After all, Kant did not even believe that a lying promise is ethical, even if it
might save the life of a child. Smythe (1998) writes: "As Kant had indicated, we have a duty to accept certain propositions as soon as they have been shown to
belong imprescriptibly to an interest of reason" (p.449). In other words, there are categorical realities that rely on reason, but it is not up to the individual to make new
decisions because of them. Kants categorical imperative suggests that everything must be categorically correct. In fact, "he presents arguments to suggest why we should think of the Categorical Imperative as
...