According to kant, what is the connection between the categorical imperative or the practical imperative?

Question

this is also about kant:

what is the vicious circle and what is the solution to it

what is the kingdom of ends

what sort of being has in itself absolute worth and how is this being related to the practical imperative?

explain the categorical imperative

Answer 1

The categorical imperative, according to Kant, defines what is our duty. Acting dutifully is acting morally. It helps to break down the expression to understand it:

categorical = opposite of "hypothetical" which is of the "if you want X, then do Y" form. If something is categorical then it is worthy for its own sake.

Imperative = a command or something that needs doing.

Therefore, a categorical imperative is a command (in this case a moral command) that is worth doing for it's own sake. Out of "reverence for the law".

There are three formulations of the categorical imperative: universalizability, treating others as ends in themselves, and the Kingdom of Ends. Kant did however hold that all three were merely different ways of expressing the same reasoning.

The first formulation holds "Always act according to that maxim whose universality as a law you can at the same time will". It is essentially a test by which to show if an action is moral or not. If you consider any action universalized then there are two criteria to see if it is morally permissible. One is whether is it logically incoherent/self-denying (Kant calls these "contradictions in conception") e.g. "Lie when you feel like it" and the other is "contradiction of the will" where you simply wouldn't WANT the action universalized e.g. "Kill people if you can get away with it".

Now, i've not come across "practical imperative" as something much different from the categorical since Kant maintains that all such duties that stem from his Univervalizability test are practical laws. Indeed, he speaks often of morality as using "practical reason". I have also heard it sometimes mentioned how Kant's second formulation of his categorical imperative (treat others as ends in themselves) is the practical and day-to-day expression of his argument.

Hope some of that helps!

Answer 2

The categorical imperative is basically, one should act in such a way that it's permissible for the same act to be universalized. For example: I want to lie. But if my act was universalized, everyone would then be permitted to lie as well. Therefore, lying is bad because if such an act was universalized, then there would be chaos.