Abstract
Kant offered his categorical imperative as the basis for a process that reflects common thinking about methods for deriving practical moral maxims and duties. This process is shown here as relevant for managerial leadership and firm efficiency. The role of reflective thought in establishing and maintaining these maxims is emphasized. The categorization of these maxims into associated perfect and imperfect duties is reviewed so that absolute prohibitions can be understood as distinctly different from those volitional duties with practical limitations.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Allison, Henry A. 1995. “Kant.” In The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, edited by Ted Honderich, 434–438. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Arendt, Hannah. 1978. The Life of the Mind. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Inc.
Bowie, Norman E. 1999. Business Ethics: A Kantian Analysis. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Brickley, James, Clifford Smith, and Jerold Zimmerman. 1999. “The Economics of Organizational Architecture.” In The New Corporate Finance. 2nd ed., edited by Donald Chew. Boston, MA: Irwin/McGraw-Hill.
Chambers, Donald, and Nelson Lacey. 1996. “Corporate Ethics and Shareholder Wealth Maximization.” Financial Management 6 (Spring/Summer): 93–95.
Downie, R. S. 1995. “Kantian Ethics.” In The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, edited by Ted Honderich, 438–439. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Hill, Thomas E. 1992. Dignity and Practical Reason in Kant’s Moral Theory. Ithaca, NY: Cornel University Press.
Hume, David. 1739. A Treatise on Human Nature. London, UK: John Noon.
Inwood, M. J. 1995. “Enlightenment.” In Oxford Companion to Philosophy, edited by Ted Honderich. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Kant, Immanuel. 1784. “What Is Enlightenment?” In Basic Writings of Kant, edited by Allen W. Wood, The Modern Library Classics. New York: The Modern Library.
Kant, Immanuel. 1785. “Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals.” In Basic Writings of Kant, edited by Allen W. Wood, The Modern Library Classics. New York: The Modern Library.
Kant, Immanuel. 1781 [1787]. “Critique of Pure Reason.” In Basic Writings of Kant, edited by Allen W. Wood, The Modern Library Classics. New York: The Modern Library.
Kant, Immanuel. 1793. “Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone.” In Basic Writings of Kant, edited by Allen W. Wood, The Modern Library Classics. New York: The Modern Library.
Kant, Immanuel. 1797. The Metaphysics of Morals, edited by Mary Gregor. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Korsgaard, Christine M. 1996. Creating the Kingdom of Ends. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
O’Neill, Onora. 2000. “Kantian Ethics.” In Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, New York, NY: Routledge.
Plato. 1989 [1999]. The Collected Dialogue Including the Letters. Edited by Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns. Bollingen Series LXXI. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Rawls, John. 1980. “Kantian Constructivism in Moral Theory.” Journal of Philosophy 77 (September): 515–572. Reprinted in Collected Papers—John Rawls, edited by Samuel Freeman, Harvard University Press, 1999.
Rawls, John. 1989. “Themes in Kant’s Moral Philosophy.” From Harvard University Lecture. Reprinted in John Rawls: Collected Papers, edited by Samuel Freeman, Harvard University Press, 1999.
Rawls, John. 2001. Justice as Fairness: A Restatement. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Robinson, Richard. 2016. “Friendships of Virtue, Pursuit of the Moral Community, and the Ends of Business.” Journal of Business Ethics, published online, Open Access, August 3. https://doi.org/10.1007/s100551-016-3277-5. Print version: August 2018, 151 (1): 85–100.
Smith, Adam. 1759 [1982]. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Edited by D. D. Raphael and A. L. Macfie. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund.
Smith, Adam. 1776. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, reprinted by Clarendon Press, 1996.
Sullivan, Roger. 1994 [1997]. An Introduction to Kant’s Ethics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
White, Mark D. 2010. “Adam Smith and Immanuel Kant: On Markets, Duties, and Moral Sentiments.” Forum for Social Economics 39 (1): 53–60.
White, Mark D. 2011. Kantian Ethics and Economics. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Wood, Allen W. 1999. Kant’s Ethical Thought. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Robinson, R.M. (2019). Kant’s Categorical Imperative and Moral Duties. In: Imperfect Duties of Management. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99792-6_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99792-6_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-99791-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-99792-6
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)