1. Explain why, for Kant, when it comes to an action having moral worth or deserving moral praise, the action needs to be done “from” or “for the sake of” duty and why actions that are merely in “accordance with” or happen to align with duty are not morally praiseworthy. In your explanation, make sure to refer to the importance, for Kant, that morality has a necessary, objective, and universal ground (200 word count).
2. Explain what Varoufakis thinks is the moral responsibility of European counties regarding the issue of welcoming refugees instead of closing the borders in the midst of the Syrian crisis. In your answer, make sure to explain how he uses the categorical imperative as opposed to consequentialism (100 word count).
9/28/21, 10:03 AM Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals Chapter 2 – Part 1 Summary & Analysis | SparkNotes
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Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals
Immanuel Kant
Summary
Chapter 2 – Part 1
Summary
It is generally recognized that actions are not truly moral if they are performed in conformity with duty but not for the sake of duty alone.
Nevertheless, it is almost impossible to �nd examples of actions performed exclusively out of a sense of duty. Nearly every action we observe can
be attributed to some motive other than pure duty. Indeed, it is often impossible to know whether even our own true motives are pure.
The lack of examples of pure moral action may seem disheartening. Yet we may take heart in the fact that all rational beings may recognize that
reason imposes clear moral demands.
Furthermore, we should recognize that it would be impossible for us to derive universal moral laws from speci�c events and experiences; since all
events are contingent upon speci�c circumstances, none of our experiences can be a source of moral principles that apply in all cases and all
circumstances. Even our idea of God, the perfect being, is not based on experience, but rather on our a priori idea of moral perfection. Developing a
clearer understanding of a priori moral concepts can help to reinforce our moral sense against the distractions of competing interests and
motivations.
Study Guide
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Rational beings may align their “will” either with the objective laws of reason and morality or with subjective needs and interests. Reason’s demands
may be called “imperatives.” “Hypothetical imperatives” command that a particular action is necessary as a means to some purpose, such as the
attainment of personal happiness. “Categorical imperatives” command that some action is necessary in and of itself.
Hypothetical imperatives are regular and obvious occurrences. Anytime someone settles upon some purpose or objective, reason may make clear
to them what course of action they should pursue. This undertaking is more complicated in the case of indeterminate objectives like happiness,
where it is di�cult to know what particular actions will bring about the goal. Nevertheless, we have no problem understanding that people have
chosen to act in a certain way as a result of a hypothetical imperative.
By contrast, we cannot �nd evidence for categorical imperatives in the decisions and actions we observe. People may appear to act in a certain way
because of a pure demand of reason, yet we can never be sure that they do not have some circumstantial interest or ulterior motive other than a
pure categorical imperative. Categorical imperatives must therefore be derived a priori.
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9/28/21, 10:03 AM The Refugee Crisis, Immanuel Kant And Germany’s Moral Leadership
https://socialeurope.eu/the-refugee-crisis-immanuel-kant-and-germanys-moral-leadership 1/4
by Yanis Varoufakis on 16th September 2015
Yanis Varoufakis
Economists err when they think that human rationality is all about
applying one’s means ef�ciently in order to achieve one’s ends. That the
ef�cient application of available resources in the pursuit of given
objectives is an important dimension of our Reason, there is no doubt.
The error however sips in when economists, and those in�uenced by
them, assume that this is all rationality is about.
This type of instrumental approach to the meaning of Reason massively
underestimates perhaps the one ingredient of human reasoning that
makes us exceptional animals: the capacity to subject our ends, our
objectives, to rational scrutiny. To ask ourselves not just questions such
as “Should I invest in bonds or shares?” but also questions of the type: “I
like X but should I like it?”
This summer we, Europeans, faced major challenges to our integrity and soul. The in�ow of refugees tested our
humanity and our rationality felt the strain of needing to make hard choices. Most European nations, and their
governments, failed the test of history spectacularly. Closing borders down, stopping trains on their tracks, treating
people in need as an existentialist threat, indulging in bickering at the level of the European Union as to who will bear
a lesser part of the burden – all in all, Europe behaved abominably leading the Italian Prime Minister to utter in
desperation: “If this is Europe, I do not want to be part of it.”
Social Europe
politics, economy and employment & labour
The Refugee Crisis, Immanuel
Kant And Germany’s Moral
Leadership
https://socialeurope.eu/author/yanis-varoufakis
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9/28/21, 10:03 AM The Refugee Crisis, Immanuel Kant And Germany’s Moral Leadership
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One country stood out, showing moral leadership on this issue: Germany. The sight of thousands of Germans
welcoming wretched refugees who had been turned away in several other European countries was one to savour and
one to extract considerable hope from. Hope that Europe’s soul has not been lost entirely. Chancellor Merkel’s
relaxed leadership on the matter, even the magnanimous attitude of otherwise misanthropic German tabloids to the
in�owing refugees, made amends for Europe’s failure to rise up to this humanitarian crisis.
Many have imputed ulterior motives to Germany’s generosity. Poor German demographics may be helped by an
in�ux of relatively young, highly motivated, mostly well-educated �eeing Syrians. Guntram Wolff, in the Financial
Times, recently drew a historical comparison with a 17th Century in�ux of French protestant refugees into the
state of Brandenburg, who brought in with them skills and dynamism. Employers rejoice at the thought of more
workers, putting downward pressure on wage costs, while macroeconomists try to calculate the �scal costs to the
welfare system in relation to the economic bene�ts from a boost in aggregate demand.
This cynical cost-bene�t analysis misses the point, however. That there are bene�ts from immigration is beyond
dispute – except by racists. Host countries (with the United States, Canada and Australia offering living examples)
are the ones enjoying enormous net bene�ts, while the countries abandoned by their people suffer. But this is true
for all aging Central and North Eastern European nations. Why is it only Germany and its people that took
enthusiastically to welcoming refugees? The answer, clearly, has nothing to do with economics. If there are positive
economic repercussions, these are mere byproducts of some other type of motivation that made Germans open their
borders and hearts to the refugees. What might it be?
Students of philosophy may be tempted, as I am, to seek the answer in one of Germany’s grandest gifts to humanity:
the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Unlike economists and Anglo-Celtic philosophers, Kant is not satis�ed with
instrumental accounts of what it means to act rationally. Such accounts are �ne for cats and sophisticated robots.
But not for humans. Humans must have a capacity for moral reasoning that is, nevertheless, the result not of dogma
but of pure Reason.
Kant’s practical Reason demands that we should undertake those actions which, when generalised,
yield coherent outcomes. For example, lying cannot be a rational choice because, if universalised, if everyone were to
lie all the time, trust in what others say would disappear and language would lose its coherence. True enough, many
people refrain from lying because of the fear that they will be found out. But Kant does not consider such
instrumental reasons for not lying as fully rational. In his mindset, the rational and the moral merge when we develop
a capacity to act on the so-called categorical imperative: of acting in a universalisable manner independently of the
consequences. For the hell of it, in plainer language.
Taking refugees in is such a universalisable act. You do not take them in because of what you expect to gain. The fact
that you may end up with great gains is irrelevant. The warm inner glow of having done the ‘right’ thing, the boost to
aggregate demand, the effect on productivity – all these are great repercussions of one’s Kantian rationality. They
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/c9be520e-57a1-11e5-9846-de406ccb37f2.html#axzz3lPwFbsh8
9/28/21, 10:03 AM The Refugee Crisis, Immanuel Kant And Germany’s Moral Leadership
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are not, however, the motivation. One’s rational acts, according to Kant, are not to be determined by expected gain,
that instrumental ‘utility’ that depends on what others do and on a number of contingencies. There is no strategy
here. Just the application of the deontological reasoning which requires that we should act upon ‘universalisable’
rules.
There is, of course, no way that one can prove empirically that German solidarity to the refugees was of the Kantian
type, and not some instrumental attempt to feel better about themselves, to show up other Europeans, to improve
the country’s demographics. Be that as it may, I do not buy these cynical, instrumental accounts. Having observed so
many Germans perform countless acts of kindness toward refugees shunned by other Europeans, I am convinced
that something akin to Kantian reasoning is at work.
I say “something akin to Kantian reasoning” because full Kantian behaviour is neither observed in Germany nor
necessarily desirable. There are times when good people need to lie (for instance when skinheads interrogate you on
the whereabouts of a black person they are chasing) and there are several realms where German attitudes are far
from consistent with Kantian thinking.
Indeed, this summer there was a second occasion when Europe harmed its integrity and damaged its soul: It
happened on 12th and 13th July when the leader of a small European country, Greece, was threatened with
expulsion from the Eurozone unless he accepted an economic reform program that no one truly believes (not even
Chancellor Merkel) can alleviate my country’s long standing economic collapse, and the hopelessness that goes along
with it. On that occasion no universalisable principle was in play, the result being that a proud nation was forced to
surrender to an illogical economic program for which everyone in Europe, including Germany, will pay a price.
This is not the place to recount the vagaries of Greece’s never-ending crisis. And nor is there a need since its
underlying cause has nothing to do with Greece: the real reason Greece has been imploding, while Berlin and the
troika are insisting on a ‘reform’ program that pushes the country deeper into a black hole and keeps it hopelessly
unreformed, is that the German government has not yet decided what it wants to do with the Eurozone.
Berlin knows well that, as it is, the Eurozone is non-viable. It needs major reforms. It needs mechanisms for recycling
surpluses from the regions where they amass to the regions in de�cit. Alas, Berlin has not formed an opinion, yet, on
what these reforms should be, what form of European political union it wants, or how to convince Paris to go along
with its priorities. So, while the Franco-German elephants tussle, little Greece is being squashed, awaiting the
outcome of this interminable clash. In the process, millions of Greeks languish in desperation, hundreds of thousands
of educated young men and women �ee the country, and the oligarchy is having a �eld day exploiting the political
impasse caused by last July’s surrender of our government.
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Setting aside the Greek drama for now, Europe needs moral leadership from Germany. On the question of refugees,
we have it – and that’s excellent. On the question of how to deal, at long last, with the Eurozone’s crisis, there has
been no German leadership – indeed, quite the opposite, as the German government has been lagging behind
developments, stepping in only at the last moment to tackle the symptoms but never its causes.
What should Berlin do? An excellent start would be to apply the same Kantian principle which has been evident in
the case of the refugee crisis. Kant’s practical Reason asks of us to adopt policies that, if generalised, will
yield coherent outcomes. Large trade surpluses cannot be ‘generalised’! Just as in the case of lying, securing
economic prosperity in a monetary union by means of huge net exports, and increasing competitiveness vis-à-
vis other European countries, fails Kant’s test. And so does a motivated blindness to the fact that one’s surplus is
another’s de�cit.
Time for Germany to extend its moral leadership from the refugee issue to the Eurozone’s architecture. Evoking
Immanuel Kant to ditch the incoherent view of itself as Europe’s export-oriented workshop would be an excellent
start.
This column was �rst published on Yanis Varoufakis’ Blog
Yanis Varoufakis
Yanis Varoufakis, a former �nance minister of Greece, is leader of the MeRA25 party and professor
of economics at the University of Athens.
https://socialeurope.eu/author/yanis-varoufakis
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