The Study On Consequentialism Of Kant's Deontology

There is a widespread view among scholars that Kant's deontology being opposite to the consequentialism and eudaemonism,is the opposition between the non-consequentialism and the consequentialism.Deontology seems to be the anti-consequentialism,or at least is non-consequentialism;while people also often call eudaemonism and utilitarianism the consequentialism ethnics.But Kant's Deontology is a special kind of consequentialism,namely rational consequentialism;The difference between Kant's deontology and consequentialism is not the difference between non-consequentialism and consequentialism,but the difference of two opposite types of consequentialism.What determines the will can be rational or emotional desire.But when rational desire determines the will,there will also be two situations:one is pure practical reason determines the will;The other is instrumental reason determines the will.When reason is used for tools,in surface it is the reason that determines the will,but in fact,it ishelping the emotional desire to determine the will.So,Kant thinks that the pure practical reason which doesn't depend on any experience and is independent of all sorts of sensual desires and interests is the only determination of the will.Moreover,in the ultimate sense,pure practical reason has the priority on determining the will.If the instrumental reason is unique and has priority on determining the will,pure practical reason will be subject to the instrumental reason.And there will be a hidden risk of canceling the pure practical reason.Therefore,Kant is firmly opposed to the expansion of the instrumental reason.Although he allows using reason as an instrument in a certain range,reason being used as a tool should be under a condition of being used for a rational target;And the categorical imperative which says human is the objective,may reveal this restrictive condition.Under the condition of not going against that reason is objective,reason is allowed to be used as a tool.So,there are two types of consequentialism,one is perceptual consequentialism,the other is rational consequentialism.eudaemonism and utilitarianism are perceptual consequentialism.They draw the moral principle from the emotional desire,and make eudaemonia a goal.Making eudaemonia as a goal means making the emotional desire as the purpose,because meeting the emotional desire is eudaemonia.And the perceptual purpose is relative.While Kant's deontology is rational consequentialism.He draws moral principles from the pure practical reason,and he makes the pure practical reason the goal;Rational purpose leads to dignity and nobleness.Rational purpose is absolute,and it dominates all the perceptual purposes purpose.Pure practical reason is the foundation of the nobleness and dignity.Eudaemonism and utilitarianism,therefore,are a kind of consequentialism which makes the eudaeimonia the purpose,while deontology is a special kind of consequentialism which makes the pure practical reason as the purpose.Kant's deontology is divided into restricted deontology and generalized deontology.restricted deontology is known as moral philosophy;while generalized deontology is wisdom,or the doctrine of the highest good.If we want to study Kant's deontology and moral law,namely the categorical imperative,it is necessary to first study the basic closely related concepts such as duties and responsibilitie.Duty deals with the behavior.It is a moral law,and your behavioris associated with it,restrained by it,and ordered by it.And responsibility deals with the necessary relationship between behavior and the request of the categorical imperative,in which the categorical imperative is binding on the behavior.This commitment is called obligation.Duty is the matter of the obligation.The relationship between the two is very close.Duty of right only requires the behavior to be ethical,regardless of whether the motivation of the behavior is for the perceptual purpose;while duty of virtue not only requires the behavior to be ethical,but also requires to respect the moral laws in one's heart at the time of action.Kant does oppose the strict consequentialism and eudaemonism.Because standing on the position of rationalism or formalism,he depreciates and rejects the practical principle of matter,but agrees to the practical principle of the form;he opposes to make the practical principle of matter the determining basis of the will.He advocates to make the practical principle of form the determining basis of the will.Here,Kant's restricted deontology,which is known as moral philosophy is considered as formalism ethics,which opposes the matter ethics.In this sense,the contrast between Kant's deontology and eudaemonism and consequentialism ethics is the contrast between non-consequentialism and consequentialism.But Kant might conceal another special matter,namely rational purpose,in the so-called practical principle of form.That is to say,the rational form of this anti perceptual matter itself forms a rational purpose.In the formula that human is the purpose,Kant definitely requires to set the humanity of personality as the purpose,not just as a means.This rational purpose is the human nature,or dignity of the personality.This is a special purpose,namely rational purpose,which is different from the perceptual purpose.in the view of very strict consequentialist,rational purpose is still not a form not a matter.This requires that people jump out of the current view and framework of the consequentialism ethics,getting a wider understanding on consequentialism.If Kant regards reason as matter,this matter of reason is a kind of special matter,a special purpose.This matter must come with a quotation mark.In this sense,therefore,Kant's deontology has two matters,one is associated with emotional desire,it is the perceptual matter in the strict sense of consequentialism.The other is the matter of Kant's reason,the rational purpose.So,Kant's against the perceptual consequentialism,meanwhile he also establishes of a special kind of consequentialism,namely the rational consequentialism.At this point,the contrast between Kant's restricted deontology and eudaemonism and consequentialism ethics is the contrast between the two different kinds of consequentialism.However,those who adopt the view of strict consequentialism and criticize Kant should also notice,that even with people's understanding of consequentialism which is popular,they can't unilaterally attribute the contrast between Kant's deontology and eudaemonism and consequentialism ethics to the contrast between non-consequentialism and consequentialism.Because,Kant's generalized deontology contains the consideration of eudaemonia.This shows that Kant's doctrine of highest good isn't entirely anti-eudaemonia.In Kant's generalizeddeontology,namely the doctrine of the highest good,he includes the factor of eudaemonia in his perceptual consequentialism as a secondary purpose.However,this perceptual purpose is subject to the rational purpose.And he emphasizes that on the premise of moral principles,one can pursue the eudaemonia,and become the highest good,namely,reaching the unity of morality and behavior.In his "Critique of Judgement",Kant discusses about his system of physical teleology.In physical teleology,the final aim is culture.The purpose of eudaemonia is the minor,which is before the purpose of culture.Behind the purpose of culture is to the ultimate objective which are created when reaching the level of moral consequentialism:being highest good,rational purpose,moral goal,moral man.Therefore,the system of physical teleology will involve three purposes under the sense of perceptual consequentialism and rational consequentialism.One is the purpose of eudaemonia;the second is the rational purpose,namely human dignity,the moral purpose,which is on the contrary of eudaemonia;the third is the purpose of highest good,the unity of virtue and eudaemonia.The purpose of eudaemonia is perceptual purpose,which corresponds with the purpose of eudaemonia in the system of physical teleology.While in the formula that human is the purpose,the humanity of personality,namely reason itself,is the rational purpose.The rational purpose implies what reason wants to have.That is the dignity of the personality.And in the doctrine of the highest good,highest good is the unity of these two purposes.But the doctrine of the highest good has a sorting in itself in whichrational purpose ranks the first,while the perceptual purpose ranks behind;The perceptual purpose of eudaemonism is low-level.Kant is against this low-level purpose,and at the same time,he puts forward a senior purpose to which these low-level purposes are subject.The purpose of matter ends up in the unity with the purpose of form.These two purposes corresponds with the ultimate purpose which is created by the system of physical teleology.Therefore,it is one-sided to think that the contrast between Kant's deontology and eudaemonism and consequentialism ethics is the contrast between non-consequentialism and consequentialism,the contrast of which should be considered as the contrast and difference between the two different types of consequentialism:perceptual consequentialism and rational consequentialism.Although in Kant's restricted deontology,perceptual consequentialism and rational consequentialism are diametrically opposed to each other,he makes the eudaemonia in perceptual consequentialism a factor in his doctrine of the highest good.The purpose of highest good includes eudaemonia,which means that Kant's doctrine of the highest good contains the elements of eudaemonism and consequentialism ethics...