Hypothetical & Categorical Imperative

Test yourself on Hypothetical & Categorical Imperative

After reading these notes, test your knowledge with free interactive questions on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.

Hypothetical Imperatives

Kant produced two types of imperatives: hypothetical and categorical. An imperative is something you must do. Hypothetical imperatives are dependent on the aims of a person’s wants and needs.

Goal centred and not moral

Hypothetical imperatives begin with ‘if’.
- E.g. if you want to be healthier, you should exercise more and eat healthier food.
Hypothetical imperatives are goal centred and are only used when someone is trying to reach a goal.
This means they are not moral imperatives as they are only dependent on a goal someone is seeking.
Additionally, hypothetical imperatives only apply to those that want to achieve a goal and are seeking a reward as a consequence of their behaviour.

Selfish actions

Another example: if you want to pass your exam, you should revise and study for it.
- The reward here is to pass the exam and succeed. To succeed, you must revise and work hard for it.
Kant felt hypothetical imperatives were selfish actions and should not be focussed on. We should turn our thoughts to actions which promote goodwill and promote morality.

Rise of categorical imperatives

This is when categorical imperatives came into play.
Kant’s deontological theory began to focus heavily on the moral and human duty to only perform actions based on the reasoning of goodwill.

Kant believed there was a principle of morality that could be used to identify what our moral duties, as individuals, are. This is the categorical imperative. In other words, something you must do regardless of circumstances.

Instruct on right and wrong

The categorical imperative is a moral imperative.
Categorical imperatives are used alongside rules and laws and instruct people on what is right and what is wrong.
Categorical imperatives can be applied to everybody and can be used to make decisions on what is morally correct.

3 formulations

Kant devised three formulations to the categorical imperative to make it clear how it should be used and how somebody should apply it to making a decision.
- These are known as the three formulations of the categorical imperative.

First formulation

The universal principle.
- You must perform actions that can be made into a universal rule that can be applied to everyone (universalisability).
- Example: you cannot lie. This is universalisable as it is wrong to lie and lying can cause many issues. It is also not acting out of goodwill.

Second formulation

Ends in themselves.
- Kant said: “treat people as an end in themselves”. You should not treat somebody as a means to an end. You should treat them as an end, treat them as you want to be treated.
- Kant means that every person is good, intrinsically. He states that we should all treat each other as an end, never use someone to achieve something else. He felt it was never right to treat somebody as a means. We should be using good will to decide our actions and treat others with kindness.

Third formulation

The principle of the kingdom of ends.
- Our own actions should be judged based on the idea that everyone else in the world is acting morally and treating everybody fairly. Therefore, treating people as an end, not a means.
- This formulation clearly rejects hypothetical imperatives and focuses on the idea that all humans have a moral duty and it is their role to perform it.

Using the three formulations

These three formulations can be used like a checklist to decide whether an action is a categorical or hypothetical imperative.
Kant said we should be striving for categorical imperatives at all times to focus on our moral duty. We should not be wasting time on selfish deeds or performing actions just to receive a reward.

True categorical imperatives

Kant argued that a true categorical imperative is performed simply because it is the right thing to do. A bonus is that you might feel good after performing it.
But a categorical imperative is not performed for the reward; it is simply a product of a moral duty.