Hypothetical imperative

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A hypothetical imperative is of the form "If you want x, do y". According to some moral theories , moral demands basically have this structure. Therefore only those who actually want x are obliged to y. A counter-thesis to this is that a moral ought in the true sense does not only exist in relation to certain interests, but in principle for everyone and unconditionally, i.e. H. categorically apply (see categorical imperative ).

Concept history

For some traditional fundamental ethical approaches, as can be ascribed to many scholastics , the universality of moral duties is based on the understanding and will of the first being. Objective constraints ( inclinatio naturae , lex aeterna ) are linked to the achievement of certain goals with requirements ( virtus naturae, inclinatio naturae, lex aeterna ). These produce an ought if a goal is striven for. The striving for the goal is nonetheless hypothetical, and therefore also the imperative.

According to Thomas Aquinas , all concrete goals are determined by people themselves. Only the general goal of man (striving for objective, spiritual happiness ) is essential to him and therefore necessary. In what way it is actually developed is largely determined by people themselves. So not all people find that God is the ultimate goal. Happiness is not understood as egotistical, but as an objective state of moral order. With this goal goods like God, justice and the perfect exercise of the soul's forces are inwardly connected.

The good ( bonum ) becomes a duty (a rectum ) through the ought-to-be with regard to the ultimate goal . The bonum is determined by moral reason ( orthos logos, recta ratio ), while the rectum is an obligation ( bonum debitum ) and thus goes beyond it. But since the rectum ultimately emerges from the ought- to-be claim with regard to the ultimate goal, every rectum must also conform to moral reason. In an analogous manner, the malum becomes a peccatum through the ought-to-be with regard to the ultimate goal .

The expression "hypothetical imperative" comes from Immanuel Kant . He counters that moral demands apply unconditionally and categorically, not only under the condition of certain preferences or goals. The universality of ethical duties comes from the human subject. As hypothetical imperatives and “mere rules of skill”, Kant defines rules that guide action, which express an “objective compulsion of action” (ie the action, if it is to achieve its purpose, must follow this rule due to factors outside the subject) and which determine “the conditions of the causality of the rational being, as an active cause, merely with regard to the effect and sufficiency for it.” Immanuel Kant: AA V, 20 These criteria distinguish them from merely subjective maxims and from the determinations of the will itself as they are expressed in categorical imperatives.

discussion

The defenders of categorical imperatives accuse ethicists, who understand moral demands as hypothetical imperatives, that moral demands are absolute and that this is not adequately captured when moral demands are relativized to certain goals.

Conversely, z. B. From a virtue ethical perspective, the claim of categorical imperatives is too abrupt, for example with aspects of personality development .

Web link

Wiktionary: hypothetical imperative  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

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  1. ↑ Summa theologica I-II 1,7 c: Tametsi unus est ultimus finis formaliter omnium hominum, multiplicantur tamen quae per varia studia homines ut ultimos fines assequi conantur.
  2. ↑ Summa theologica I-II 2 a 1 c: Quamvis Deus sit ultimus finis omnium rerum, non est tamen hominis et aliarum creaturarum ratione carentium idem ultimus finis ad illius consecutionem et adeptionem.
  3. ↑ Summa theologica I-II 3 a 2, 5, 8
  4. ↑ See, for example, Wolfgang Kluxen : Philosophical ethics in Thomas von Aquin . Verlag Meiner, Hamburg 1998, p. 228
  5. ↑ Summa theologica I-II q 21 a 1
    W. Kluxen: Philosophical ethics with Thomas von Aquin . Verlag Meiner, Hamburg 1998, p. 205
  6. ↑ Immanuel Kant, Collected Writings. Ed .: Vol. 1-22 Prussian Academy of Sciences, Vol. 23 German Academy of Sciences in Berlin, from Vol. 24 Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Berlin 1900ff., AA V, 20 .