Deontology

What drives our actions to do good? I have been asking myself this question for years as a social justice activist. Kant’s philosophy is that “the good will is the possession of a rationally guided will that adds a moral dimension to one's acts. So it is the recognition and appreciation of duty itself that must drive our actions” (McCormick, 2005). The duty itself rather than the result is what he says must drive our actions for good.

As an activist, I have had a myriad of motives for the actions I take to make change. Yes the end result desired is change whether it be ending oppression, feeding the hungry or stopping a war. But in that, I may take action because it is what is right regardless of outcome. I am ultimately a pacifist because in my view killing is simply wrong. It is the inner force of universal good that drives me to help. Since I am not, according to Kant, “a wholly rational being” I may do some work because I want to expand the activist community. The motivation no longer is because it is good. It becomes to build a bigger movement to do more good. This can be damaging by compromising the action. When we are acting out of our own self interests, the action no longer is purely good. Motivations change and activists can lose touch of why they are taking action.

One group of activists that came to mind while reading about Kant was the Catholic Worker movement started by Dorothy Day. Those within the Catholic Worker movement are committed to nonviolence, voluntary poverty, prayer and helping those who are homeless and oppressed. Their goal or end, is to “create a new society within the shell of the old, a society in which it will be easier to be good“ (Catholic Worker, 2002).

In morals, relations between people are corrupted by distorted images of the human person. Class, race and sex often determine personal worth and position within society, leading to structures that foster oppression. Capitalism further divides society by pitting owners against workers in perpetual conflict over wealth and its control. Those who do not "produce" are abandoned, and left, at best, to be "processed" through institutions. Spiritual destitution is rampant, manifested in isolation, madness, promiscuity and violence (Catholic Worker, 2002).

I found that the Catholic worker movement represents a group of activists reflecting some of Kant’s philosophy. They take action because it is what is good. “We ground our work in a firm belief in the God-given dignity of every person and we take seriously the Gospel mandate in
Christian scripture to practice the Works of Mercy” (Catholic Worker, 2002). I suppose one could argue that their motivation is to end hunger and therefore not purely good. However, their philosophy and actions are congruent. They live in voluntary poverty, educate and take in immigrants so that they can truly do good. They are acting for humanity. “Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never as a means only” (McCormick, M, 2005).

Catholic Worker (2002, May). The Aims and Means of the Catholic Worker. Reprinted from The Catholic Worker newspaper. Retrieved February 14, 2006 from http://www.catholicworker.org/aimsandmeanstext.cfm?Number=5

McCormick, M (2005). Emmanual Kant. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved February 14, 2006 from http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/k/kantmeta.htm