Philosophy Final Review Essay

Submitted By mukingno1
Words: 4122
Pages: 17

practical rationality
The use of reason to determine what actions one should perform. what actions one should perform? what makes an action good? or more specifically what makes an action practically rational?
Should I skip class, because I am doing well.
Kant asked what makes an action good or what makes an action practically rational what to do, what action is need for some goal.
According to Kan'ts moral philosophy, it is defined as the capacity of a rational being to act according to principles (i.e., according to the conception of laws). Unlike the ethical intuitionism Kant never held that practical reason intuits the rightness of particular actions or moral principles. For him, practical reason was basically formal rather than material, a framework of formative principles rather than a source of specific rules. This is why he put such stress on his first formulation of the categorical imperative. Lacking any insight into the moral realm, humans can only ask themselves if what they are proposing to do has the formal character of law, namely, the character of being the same for all persons similarly circumstanced. rationality is the characteristic of any action, belief, or desire, that makes their choice optimal under a set of constraints. Practical rationality is the strategy for living one’s best possible life, achieving your most important goals and your own preferences in as far as possible.

• instrumental rationality an action can be rational instrumentally when it is a means to some chosen end or goal. action as instrumental to achieve your goal. buy coffee in morning to teach good class there is a relationship
We are instrumentally rational when we take necessary and effective means to our ends, andinstrumentally irrational when we fail to do so. For instance, if you decide to give up smoking, it would be rational to stop buying cigarettes, and to limit the time you spend around other smokers. It would be irrational not to take any means to this end
Instrumental rationality is a mode of thought and action that identifies problems and works directly towards their solution.
Instrumental rationality is often seen as a specific form of rationality focusing on the most efficient or cost-effective means to achieve a specific end, but not in itself reflecting on the value of that end. Thus, to the extent that rationality is concerned with critically evaluating actions, instrumental rationality tends to focus on the 'hows' of an action, rather than its 'whys'.
Practical reasoning that helps a person decide how to do things (efficiently perform technical tasks, resolve conflicts, solve problems, etc.) by regarding the factors involved in a situation as variables to be controlled. The dominant modeof thinking in the industrial world, instrumental rationality lacks any notion of limits and has led to the creation of the modern technological infrastructure.

• hypothetical imperatives vs. categorical imperative
Kant describes reason as issuing demands or commanders to us. Kant calls these commands or demands imperatives
Kant also describes rational imperatives as necessities
"go to class, do this do that."
Hypothetical imperatives are the imperatives of instrumental rationality. Hypothetical - the necessities expressed by a HI are always contingent or conditional. If they are running offense Y, then it makes sense to run defense X.
Could supreme principle of morality be a hypothetical imperative? Kant said no, he thinks the demand of morality, our duties are absolutely required of us. we cannot opt out of demands of morality like we can opt out of what a HI demands by simply changing our ends " unless we want to deny to the concept of morality any truth- we cannot dispute that its law is so extensive in its import that it must hold.. not merely under contingent conditions and with exceptions but with absolute necessity." you can't exempt yourself from law and moral obligation. you wouldn't want what you opt out to