On the Obligation to Keep One’s Promises Essay -- Essays Papers

On the Obligation to economise Ones Promises Moral philosophy is generally in out of bounds of the ought. More specifically, a common goal is to create some frame of rubric for evaluating specific situations, and in the face of a decision, revealing what ought to be done. A very important and consequently complicated ought is that which dictates if one should backing a promise. This topic is so vast that is reckons it would take a enormous deal of effort to make progress towards an answer, and in fact, there thrust been volumes of philosophy written about this very subject matter. Two 18th-century good philosophers who tackled this mammoth rather successfully are Immanuel Kant and David Hume. The backbone of Kants deterrent example philosophy is what he calls the categorical imperative. In the Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant uses the preface and the jump divide to introduce and develop the idea, and then in the second section fin ally states it for the first time Act exclusively according to that saying whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a planetary law. (Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, pg30)1. The maxim Kant speaks of is simply the motive behind the act, and a universal law is one that is a priori, namely, a law of thought in general without regard to difference of its objects. (Grounding, pg1). The categorical imperative states that an act should only be preformed if the motive driving the action could become a universal law, and therefore could be applied always regardless of the specifics of a situation. It should seem obvious now that the categorical imperative is directly related to the dubiety of whether one should or should not keep a promise. In... ...ames. W. Ellington translation. The page citations watch over the pages in that translation (see Sources). 2 This quote, and all other quotes from David Humes Treatise of adult male Nature comes fr om the second edition of the Oxford text. The page citations follow the pages in that edition (see Sources). Sources Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. London Penguin Books, 1995.Hume, David. A Treatise of Human Nature. Oxford Clarendon Press, 1978.Kant, Immanuel. Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals (Grundlegung zur Metaphysikder Sitten). Translated by James W. Ellington. Cambridge Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 1993.Kant, Immanuel. On the Supposed Right to Lie because of benevolent Concerns(Uber ein vermeintes Recht aus Menschenliebe zu lugen). Translated by James W. Ellington. Cambridge Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 1993.