Summum Bonum & Three Postulates
Religious Studies: OCR A Level, topic 2.3.3
Summum Bonum and the Three Postulates
The summum bonum is the end goal of Kant’s categorical imperative. To achieve the summum bonum, you not only have to follow the categorical imperative, but also the three postulates.
How to achieve summum bonum
- If you act morally, you can achieve summum bonum - supreme good.
- Kant uses it throughout his deontological approach to mean the highest happiness.
- The summum bonum is received after we die and is a reward for acting morally and following the duty you have been given through following the categorical imperative.
- It is therefore quite often compared to Heaven.
Must be acting for goodness
- To receive the summum bonum, you need to follow the categorical imperative and follow your innate duty.
- You must be acting for goodness, not for selfish reasons or to gain something else.
- Kant argued you cannot attain the summum bonum if you are simply acting morally to reach it. You must be acting out of good will, not just to attain a goal.
The three postulates
- The three postulates can explain to an individual why they should act morally as being moral is rational. They are sometimes names the postulates of practical reason.
1. Freedom
- You must act autonomously - of your own accord.
- Therefore, an individual must be able to access freedom and have freedom of choice to act as they wish.
- If they do not have this ability, they cannot achieve the summum bonum. This is because somebody must be acting according to their own duty, using their own thoughts and actions.
2. Immortality
- To receive the ultimate end goal, summum bonum, we must accept that there is an afterlife and that we have an immortal soul.
- If we felt that we only existed in the life we have now, then the summum bonum would not be possible.
- Therefore, to use the categorical imperative correctly and achieve the summum bonum, we must accept the fact that the soul is immortal and that there is something for us after we die - the summum bonum - heaven.
3. God
- Kant argues that moral law is evidence to prove God’s existence.
- He goes on to say that there is only one being that could reward those that follow the categorical imperative - God.
- This is because God is omniscient (all-knowing), omnibenevolent (all-loving) and omnipotent (all-powerful).
- Therefore, if you believe in the first two postulates, then you must believe in the fact that God exists.
Test yourself on Summum Bonum & Three Postulates
What does summum bonum mean?
Which of these are true of summum bonum?