By, Johnson V.T

 

Moral Intention:

 

Intentionality  is man's power to project ends and purposes, and seek to accomplish  them with the means  available to them, man set before him his ideals and goals and achieve it through his reason, This ability  to project desire shows the power of  transcending  his given nature  and  materialize it through his action. The faculty of desire has its supreme objects in certain transcendental values constructed by pure reason. Man has a vast spectrum of different conflicting desires but he chooses to act up on reasonable desires. Man  has different inclinations, faculty of feeling and sensation, but reason takes control of all inclinations, thus inclination co-operate with the reason in decision making. Man has got  different interest in him but interest always involves the use of reason for its end, there is a rational interest and irrational interest, rational interest strive to achieve  a desired objects.

 According to Kant a moral interest or moral feeling is pure non-sensuous interest of practical reason, like any other feeling man has got moral feelings and interests, moral feeling and other sensual feelings are distinguished by  pure practical reason which we exercise to execute an action in a particular situation, this moral feeling or intention is a universal experience in man. Man strive to fulfill an intention which though precisely not moral,   but depends on the interpretation of rational and sensible activity, this subordination of sensual feeling to reason and act morally, when man acts morally or when we contemplate the ideal he necessarily experience a feeling or sense of moral experience, morally good derive from the  sole motive that it is performed  solely for the duty sake, in a conflicting motives for action morally good is that action integrated in morally good ends. according to Kant once the rational and sensible elements  are combined in their  due proportions we will have a moral experience, this moral experience is the man's totality of experience, it unity of  sensible and moral action of the of the man            

 

 

Practical reason:                                                                                       By, Johnson V.T

 

All our knowledge derived from the sense experience, reason is the faculty  of synthesis of the senses experience with the intentions and ends, reason introduce  the concepts of  and constrains the content of experience. Man always engage in action  and that reason plays a determining role in many of these action, moral reason is categorical  or unconditional, they give rational ground for the setting on ends but they are not conditional of any ends Man has the ability to reason  and act morally, to act morally means man employ his reason to perform an act, reason is called practical  when it influence  or determines an action, for Kant practical reason and will are interchangeable, will is the ability to determine  oneself  to action in accordance with the concept  of certain laws or principles,  man not only acts up on a particular judgment but can  regard the particular deeds as an instance of general principles of action. The principles are furnished by pure practical reason.  According to Kant there is no influence of any  idea on the foundation of morality but he agree that there is place of implication of the moral law which is founded  up on autonomous and self –legislating practical reason or will

Man is morally free  because he obeys the self imposed laws and or violate them, to arrive at the reality of freedom we must begin with moral law as the sole fact of practical reason, although it is purely rational and internal  the moral law imposes on us a categorical imperatives which is in conformity with the moral law, this is because of the man's continuous striving towards a perfect condition thus Kant postulate immortality freedom and  God as the ground and object of moral good, only moral law itself  can serve as the determining ground of the pure moral will,  the supreme good  is the  highest object of moral law . Thus Kant insist that believe in God must founded up on  moral law, God can be found only through the analysis of the needs of the practical reason

 

 

Reason as Source of Morality:                                                 By, Johnson V.T

         

The ethical inquiry begins with a given element for Kant it is the sole fact of pure reason in the practical order, this is the fact of the moral law itself, In principle  our actions are  regulated by some kind of ought whether it is agreeable to the exact nature and obey it. Man seek happiness through cultivating noble actions in conformity with the moral law, although the moral law is not entirely apart from accompanying motives of self interest, but morally good actions are those actions which are done solely for the duty sake, if moral law comes to clash with other considerations then the good will or the rationality of the action is the foundation of the moral law.  There is dualism of thing in-itself and the imperative of duty, but the moral duty belong to the neumenal intelligible aspect of the self. Ultimately there is no intrinsic contradiction between inclination and intelligibility, but moral qualification has their foundation in intelligible free order and it is conceived and exercised in the dominion of reason alone.

Since the good will cannot be determined by any results of its action, it must be moved morally by the sole consideration of abiding by the law, the one formal condition common to all morally good action is this motive of conformity to the universal law. The subordination of the empirical to the intelligible personality is the source of moral action, Good will cannot be determined by any other motives or action, it must be grounded in the reason alone, for Kant the fundamental  principle of morality is a priori, chiefly depends on the faculty of reason  alone, for man the rational law convey a command reason imposes an ought, action which ought to do is the good action, since it is conformity with the reason, what about the hypothetical action , it does not give a  qualities of an unconditional a priori necessity and universality, only categorical imperatives is the foundation of morality, since it commands action as universal necessary and unconditional good themselves.

 

 

 

 

Intrinsic worth of human being:                                                          By, Johnson V.T

 

In Kantian ethics, the fundamental value is humanity itself, our  nature has three fundamental  predispositions animality, humanity and personality, there is a tendency in us to make use other human beings as a means, but Kant argue that humanity is an end in it-self, human beings have absolute worth as ends in themselves,  the categorical imperatives is possible if there is an intrinsic worth of the agent, human being necessarily represent its own existence, same way every rational beings  exists its own end, it mean either me or any other rational being cannot be the means of any other end,  Kant insist that moral law is self imposed by pure practical reason, consider as an autonomous intelligible principle, this rational will is the foundation of the universal law, another reason we adhere the moral law  'act and treat all human beings  as your own that another person will be an end in itself, every rational agent can have a universal law making force, is a person and an end in-itself, the law making person is the kingdom of end. It is not an individualistic law making but his laws are universally applicable and meant for the humanity.     

Kant insist that every other rational human being represents its existence as an end  in-itself through the  same rational ground that is valid for me, The human being necessarily represents his own existence, from this point it can be viewed  as a subjective principles but from the point of view that every other rational being also represents his existence in this way consequence on just the same rational ground as is valid also for me thus it is at the same time an objective principle from which as supreme practical ground all laws of the will must be able to be derived. According to Kant human person is end in-itself constitute the dignity of the person and dignity give worth to human person Kant maintain that humanity has a dignity and worth, Kantian ethics rest  on the dignity and absolute worth of the human person, giving moral laws and  setting rational ends of the person