my notes on kantian formalism

We should start with this question: what is the right thing to do?, which Kant considers takes us into ethical territory.

TO UNDERSTAND THIS POINT, WE NEED PERSON PROPERTIES:

REASON, 

FREE WILL, 

AUTONOMY (the ability to pursue our own projects) & 

SENTICENCE (our emotional being). 

The human faculty dealing with this Kant calls PRACTICAL REASON. 

There is REASON (our thinking faculty) and theRE IS PRACTICAL REASON (how we represent a proposition before we act). 

For example: What should you do when you make a promise?  

BREAKING A PROMISE IS WRONG.

This brings up the idea of moral obligation. Kant says, 

WHAT MAKES AN ACTION RIGHT IS THAT 1. EVERYONE CAN ACT ON IT AND 2. YOU WOULD BE WILLING TO HAVE EVERYONE ACTING ON IT.  

There are two aspects here: 1. UNIVERSALIZABILITY, 2. REVERSIBILITY 

the Categorical Imperative (above) expresses moral obligations, derived from the idea of DUTY (Pflicht). 

The action must satisfy the two branches simultaneously. 

There are two maxims here, the left (universalizability) and the right (reversibility). 

"R" Reversibility (is one-to-one), and it requires "a putting in the place of b" the old Golden Rule: "Do onto others as you would have them do onto you."

"U" Universalizability: one imagines oneself as representing the club of "Homo Sapiens," sort of saying: "my action now becomes universally required for all moral agents" (a one-to-all relationship).