H. P. Grice's Ariskant

Kantian ethics: Kant’s ethics and other ethical systems which follow it in at least some fundamental aspects. Contemporary Kantian moral philosophers include John Rawls, Alan Donagan, Alan Gewirth, and, to some degree, R. M. Hare. The general characteristics of a Kantian ethics are as follows: (1) Universalism and formalism. The search for a single or a few supreme moral principles or laws, which are abstract and universal, to govern all rational beings regardless of their particular and historical circumstances. (2) Rationalism. These principles and laws are formed from reason alone, independent of our desires and emotions. (3) Autonomy. These principles express the rational agency or freedom of human beings. (4) The emphasis on obligation or duty. The moral value of our behavior is determined in terms of its conformity with the universal moral principles. (5) A realm of ends. Human beings must be respected as ends rather than as mere means, and the creation of a kingdom of ends is the priority of human activity. Kantian ethics is a target of the contemporary anti-theory movement and is criticized for ignoring differences in social and historical situation, for excluding human emotion and desire, for ignoring moral luck, underestimating the value of virtue, and rejecting practical intuition. “Whatever may be true of Kant, it would seem that, at least among the present-day linguistic analysts who have tried to adapt certain features of Kantian ethics to their purposes, the effect has been made to recognise the purely formal features of moral laws, without attempting to explain and account for such features in terms of the peculiar nature and constitution of rational, moral beings.” Veatch, For an Ontology of Morals