Immanuel Kant was an 18th-century German philosopher, widely known for his various achievements and works such as Critique of Pure Reason and Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals. Kant developed a theory of ethics that depends on reason rather than emotion, called the moral law. Kant was not anti-religious, but he wanted an ethical system that was not clouded by religion, emotion, or personal interpretation. According to Kant, morality is a function of reason, based on our awareness of necessary and universal laws. He believed that laws generate duties and that to act out of duty is to act out of respect for the law. Kant distinguishes two kinds of imperatives which describe the moral law. The first is the hypothetical imperative, which commands by assuming that one wants something. Basically what you want is an “end” and the only way to get there is to find “means”. For example, you should not miss more than two weekly discussions for this online course if you want to pass the course, but this is only binding on you if you want to pass it. If you do not wish to pass this course, this will in no way affect your will and will not create any moral duty. Morality is therefore not a means to an end. Kant argues that the moral law should be a categorical imperative, which instead imposes itself unconditionally. Whether you want something is not a problem, just obey the order. The moral law knows no exceptions and is binding on everyone, whatever their desires. For example, let's say you fall from a building, you can't stop yourself from falling and just exempt yourself from the law of gravitation, because it doesn't matter whether you do or not, you're going to fall anyway. You also cannot exempt yourself from middle... middle of paper... The formulation of the categorical imperative would have to be fair in every way, meaning it would require reciprocity: “Always act with such a way.” so that you are both lawgiver and legislated in the kingdom of Ends. The moral law would have to do with the commandment that one must act in such a way that one's actions can be carried out by all people with contradictions. For example, imagine living in a society where we are blind to the empirical differences between us and where no one acts out of inclination, but rather out of respect for the moral law. Notice that since all differences between agents have been neutralized with respect to their behavioral consequences, everyone would act the same way and adopt the same moral rules. Curiously, as in the first formulation, ethics is at the same time subjective, universal and necessary..