Hegel and Kant on Ethics
Kant offers the Categorical Imperative as the ‘Supreme Principle of Morality’, the ultimate test of the moral permissibility of actions, grounded in the universal law of reason. For Kant, the Categorical Imperative is such insofar as it springs from the only fundamentally good object, the good will, which thus involves a critique of virtue ethics and utilitarianism who locate the good elsewhere. The Categorical Imperative, as grounded in a test of noncontradiction as formulated as universal law, respect for humanity, the principle of autonomy, and the kingdom of ends, produces a morality grounded in reason, yet, as demonstrated by Hegel, is ultimately restricted by its formalistic character, and thus is unable to generate contradictions, or to generate positive ethical duties without social content.
Utilitarianism, Virtue Ethics, and the Good Will
Kant, in the construction of the Categorical Imperative as the ultimate moral principle, does so upon a recognition of the limits of traditional moral theories, in particular, virtue ethics, and utilitarianism, insofar as they locate the good outside of the good will. In Aristotle’s virtue ethics, for example, the highest goods available are our flourishing, and our capacity for reason, and this flourishing is effected by the repetition of certain acts which display virtue — by being honest, courageous, just, generous, one acquires…
