DEONTOLOGY ❖ Second construction, on the other hand, is our ability to

enact and make real those mental images. This ability to enact
DUTY AND AGENCY thoughts is the basis for rational will. Rational will, therefore,
● The moral theory that evaluates actions that are done because refers to the faculty to intervene in the world, to act in a
of duty is called Deontology. manner that is consistent with our reason.
● Deontology comes from the Greek word “deon” which means
being necessary. Hence, deontology refers to the study of IMMEDIACY VS. AGENCY
duty and obligation. ● Animals only act according to impulse, based on their natural
instincts. Thus animals act with immediacy (from Latin : /
❖ Immanuel Kant was the main proponent of this theory. He was and medius, or “no middle”) with nothing that intervenes
a German Enlightenment philosopher who wrote “Groundwork between the impulse and the action. Therefore, animals do not
towards a Metaphysics of Morals” (1785). In this work, Kant and cannot deliberate on their actions. They don’t act but only
wrote that human beings have faculty called “rational will” react to their external surroundings.
which is the capacity to act according to the principles that we ● On the other hand, human beings have the ability to stop and
determine for ourselves. evaluate and think about what we are doing. We have the
capacity to act based on reasons and not merely to mindlessly
SENTIENCE react to the environment and base impulses. This capacity is
● This means that an organism has the ability to perceive and called agency or the ability to act based on her intentions and
navigate its external environment. mental states.
● Both animals and humans are sentient but animals don’t have
rational will like humans. Dogs and carabaos are sentient AUTONOMY VS. HETERONOMY
organisms, we don’t see them bumping into trees and walls ❖ Kant claims that the property of rational will is autonomy. It is
since just like humans, they have the ability to navigate and the opposite of heteronomy. Autonomy comes from Greek
perceive the surroundings. words “autos” which means self and “nomos” which means
laws. Hence, autonomy means self-law or self-legislating.
RATIONAL WILL OR RATIONALITY
● It consists of the mental faculty to construct ideas and ❖ Heteronomy on the other hand, comes from the Greek words,
thoughts that are beyond our immediate surroundings. “heteros” which means other and “nomos” means law.
● This refers to the capacity for mental abstraction, which arises Thus, heteronomy means other law.
from the operations of the faculty of reason.
1. A scenario wherein children don’t like to brush their
RATIONAL CAPACITY OF HUMAN BEINGS teeth but parents know that children should in order to
❖ First construction consists in how we imagine things can be. maintain oral hygiene. So, parents try to find ways to
We can imagine a different and better world and create mental get their small children brush their teeth before going to
images of how we interact with other people in that world. bed using variety of incentives or threats of undesirable
consequences. (By incentivizing that they will play their
computer games after brushing teeth)
 WILL
● This is an example of heteronomy in nature since the “ The will is thus not only subject to the law, but it is also subject to the
parents are the one who legislate the principle that law in such a way that it gives the law to itself (self-legislating) and
children should brush their teeth. primarily just in this way that the will van be considered the
author of the law under which it is subject.”
2. A scenario wherein the children who used to be HETERONOMY VS. AUTONOMY
reminded by their parents to brush their teeth are now ● The distinguishing point is the focus of the authorship of the
twenty years old. Suppose they brush their teeth every law. When you say authorship, who is the author or source of
night before going to bed without advise of their the law. May it be internal or external.
parents. The children reflected on the idea that they ● If the author of the law is external, therefore the will of an
need to brush their teeth for their oral hygiene and individual is subject to an external authority, it is therefore a
therefore they impose themselves to brush their teeth heteronomous will.
before going to bed. ● If the will itself (internal) is imposing the law unto self, then it is
autonomous.
● This therefore refer to the autonomous act of the
individuals since no one imposed to them to brush their RATIONAL WILL (PURE REASON) VS. ANIMAL IMPULSE
teeth but themselves. (SENSIBLE IMPULSE)
❖ Animal choice or arbitrum brutum refers to the set of
actions that are caused by sensible impulse. Sensible
➢ “ The will is thus not only subject to the law, but it is also impulses are usually bodily and emotional. These are bodily
subject to the law in such a way that it gives the law to itself instincts and desires such as the urge to eat, drink and sleep,
(self-legislating) and primarily just in this way that will can be or have sexual intercourse. This also includes sentiments and
considered the author of the law under which it is subject.” emtions. Meaning, acting without reason but due to sensible
impulses are mere animal choice.
● Subject comes from the Latin words sub (under) and jacere Examples: A cat who ate the food on the table. The cat did
(to throw) not think that it’s not right to eat the food on the table but
merely followed hissensible impulse or the desire to eat.
● When you say “subject to the law”, there is an imposing
authority figure (Heteronomous since there is an authority ❖ Free choice, on the other hand, refers to the choice or action
figure) that uses his power to control the subject into that is determined by pure reason. Human freedom resides in
complying with his will. Therefore the will should always be the capacity of reason to intervene in sensible impulses.
subject to the law.
RATIONAL WILL (PURE REASON) VS. ANIMAL IMPULSE ● This categorical imperative provided four key elements such
(SENSIBLE IMPULSE) as action, maxim, will and universal law.
● Rationality described as the mental capacity to construct ideas
and thoughts that are beyond one‟s immediate surrounding. CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE
Therefore, Kant describes that human choice can be affected ● Kant states that we must formulate an action as a maxim,
and but determined by sensible impulses. (You found a food which he defines as the “subjective principle of action”.
that are not yours and you are already hungry, since you will Meaning, a maxim consists of a rule that we live by in our
not act according to your sensible impulse, you may think that day-to-day lives, but it does not have the status of a law that
this food is not mine so I should not eat this. There is a pure binds us to act in a certain way. (Meaning, this maxim is only a
reason or rationality beyond your action.) formal moral theory since it does not provide an exact or
specific rules.)
UNIVERSALIZABILITY
Kinds of moral theories: ● Maxims are akin to the “standard operating procedures” SOPs
1.Substantive moral theory- immediately promulgates the specific in our lives. People act according to a variety of maxims even
actions that comprise that theory. It identifies the particular duties in a if we are not aware of them.
straightforward manner that the adherents of the theory must follow.
Example of this is the set of Ten Commandments of the MAXIM MUST BE UNIVERSALIZABLE
Judeo-Christian tradition since these are articulated mostly in the form ● Kant claims that people ought to act according to the maxim
of straightforward moral command. “Honor your father.” , “Thou shall “by which you can at once will that it become a universal law”.
not kill”. It means that maxim must be universalizable. This means
nothing other than the imagining a world in which the maxim or
Formal moral theory personal rule that an individual live by were adopted by
● It does not supply the rules or commands right away. It only everyone as their own maxim.
provides the “form” or “framework” of the moral theory.
● It means that this only supply a procedure and the criteria for FALSE PROMISING
determining the rules and moral commands. It will not give the ➔ Kant explained this general category of acts by giving an
exact list of rules or commands, instead it will give a set of example of a man who needs money but has no immediate
instructions on how to make a list of duties or moral access to obtain it except by borrowing it from a friend. This
commands. man knows that he will not be able to pay the money back, but
if he says he cannot return the money, then no money will be
lent to him.
“ Act only according to such a maxim, by which you can at ➔ If we are going to formulate this act as a maxim, “When I am
once will that it become a universal law.” (Kant, 1785) need of money, I shall borrow it even when I know I cannot pay
back.”
● A categorical imperative written by Kant in the “Grundlegung
zur Metaphysik der Sitten” which provides a procedural way of
identifying the rightness or wrongness of an action.
 ➔ If borrowing money without intending to pay were everyone's
obligation to pay (universalized maxim), what would happen to
the status of the universalized maxim? The purpose of
borrowing money would be defeated because no one will lend
money.
➔ In a world where it is an obligation to borrow money without
paying back, all lenders would know that they will not be paid
and they will refuse to lend money. As a UNIVERSALIZED
MAXIM, it would self- destruct because it becomes impossible.

REJECTED UNIVERSALIZED MAXIM

● In the current maxim of borrowing money without the intention
to pay back, the meaning of the act “to borrow” implies taking
and using something with the intent to return it. In the maxim,
the claim is to borrow money even when you know you cannot
pay it back. It contradicts the meaning of “to borrow”.
Therefore, the logical plausibility of the universalized maxim is
at stake since it contradicts the very meaning of the word “to
borrow”.
● Thus, Kant discovers two ways by which he rejects maxim.
These are either (1) self-contradictory (2) the act and its
purpose become impossible.

RATIONAL PERMISSIBILITY
● It refers to the intrinsic quality of an action that is objectively
and necessarily rational.
● Universalized maxims that are rejected are shown to be
impermissible, irrational and immoral. (The assumed universal
maxim of borrowing money without an intention to pay)
● Therefore, borrowing money without intending to pay, as a kind
of false promise, is objectively and necessarily wrong, insofar
as it encounters a self-contradiction and logical impossibility
when it is universalized as a maxim.