The Daily Answer Writing Practice
[Question 82, 05 October, 2020]


Dear Students,
Please find below today’s question for Daily Answer Writing Practice

“An ethical law can be universal if everybody wishes to follow it equally.” Elucidate the statement with suitable examples in the light of Kant’s categorical imperative.
(150 Words, 10 marks)

#Ethics #GS4

Model Answer would be posted after 8 pm today

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The Daily Answer Writing Practice
[Question 82, 05 October, 2020]


Dear Students,
Please find below today’s answer for Daily Answer Writing Practice

“An ethical law can be universal if everybody wishes to follow it equally.” Elucidate the statement with suitable examples in the light of Kant’s categorical imperative.
(150 Words, 10 marks)

Ethical Law is a set of principles, values and virtues accepted by the society or community at large. It instructs and controls individual behaviour and aims to achieve common good.
There are certain practices which claim to be ethical but are not universal. There are three dimensions of universal consistency – space, time and situation/conditionality.
• For example, practices like sati were considered ethical conduct for the woman in the past whereas today they are considered atrocious. Similarly, caste system was an accepted social norm in the past and inter-dining and inter-marriage were considered unethical whereas today following such restrictions are considered unethical.
• Similarly, in some communities like Inuit, senicide (killing of elders) is an ethical practice while in rest of the world any killing considered unethical.
• The third dimension of situation/condition can be illustrated with the help of legal killing – a soldier kills the enemy combatant or there is a capital punishment for certain gruesome crimes or a person kills in self defence. Even though killing is not at all ethical, certain conditions make it palatable somehow.
On the other hand, there are examples where some conducts have always been considered ethical irrespective of the time, space as well as situation. For example, stealing has always been considered unethical by all people all the time. The same goes for lying wherein honesty has always been the ethical law. Therefore, these ethical laws are truly universal in nature.
According to Kant’s concept of Categorical Imperative, ethical moral conduct flows from the ability of a human being to Reason. It is categorical because it’s absolute, independent of individual and it is imperative because is the ultimate commandment of the Reason. This Reason is not a commonplace cause-effect reason, but the rationality that every human possesses by virtue of being human. It is intrinsic and not borrowed. As per Kant, it is reasonable to conclude that a human being will treat others the way she wants others to treat her. And this imperative is accepted by all equally; hence it is universal in nature. If it has to the ethical law, it has to universal because it flows from the human reason.


#Ethics #GS4

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