Is Your Legacy To Yourself Or To Others And What Is Important For Morality? Modifying Kant's Categorical Imperative.
Beckett, Trees M

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Beckett, T. M. (2017). Is Your Legacy To Yourself Or To Others And What Is Important For Morality? Modifying Kant’s Categorical Imperative. (Thesis, Master of Arts). University of Otago. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10523/7049
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http://hdl.handle.net/10523/7049
Abstract:
This thesis builds on a conditional claim that Kant’s prudential account of happiness has implications for his account of morality and a new taxonomy of prudence and morality is proposed. Other-regarding and self-regarding contexts are distinguished as moral and prudential respectively. It is argued that morality is other-regarding only because self-regarding contexts do not meet the criteria for universalisation and the humanity formula only applies to other-regarding contexts. The primary exemplar is suicide. On Kant's own classification system the landscape around suicide changes significantly in both self-regarding and other-regarding contexts. This also has implications for Kant’s account of moral duties to self. In a self-regarding context the matter, when rational, is prudent and non-moral. It is argued that there is no moral basis for interference with a rational person’s decision about suicide and that there is no moral duty to self against suicide in this context.
Date:
2017
Advisor:
Moore, Andrew; Ellis, Lisa
Degree Name:
Master of Arts
Degree Discipline:
Philosophy
Publisher:
University of Otago
Keywords:
Kant; Suicide; Prudential; Rational Suicide; Categorical Imperative; Moral duties to self
Research Type:
Thesis
Languages:
English
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- Philosophy [55]
- Thesis - Masters [4204]