The Categorical Imperative

Hi,

This week’s email is about a key moral principle that can guide our actions.

The information here is from my article on the topic.

Here are the key practical points you should know:

• The categorical imperative is a moral principle which denotes that you should “act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law”. This means you should act a certain way only if you’re willing to have everyone else act the same way too.

• For example, this principle means that you shouldn't litter unless you're okay with everyone else doing the same.

• To use this principle, ask yourself “how would I feel if everyone else acted the same way?” when deciding whether to act a certain way.

• You can also ask yourself further guiding questions, like "how would I feel if I saw someone else act the same way?" and "what would happen if everyone acted this way?", and potentially visualize what it would be like if others acted the same way.

• You can use a similar approach to encourage others to use this principle.

This principle is also called Kant’s categorical imperative, since it was proposed by German philosopher Immanuel Kant in his 1785 book “Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals”.

As always, I'm happy to hear your thoughts.

Have a great week,
Itamar