Final answer:
Kantian ethics centers around the concept of duties, asserting that moral actions should be based on reason and adherence to the categorical imperative. Kant developed this imperative to ensure that actions are universally applicable and forged ethics that valued goodwill and duty over other outcomes like happiness or privileges.
Step-by-step explanation:
Kantian ethics is principally concerned with duties. Immanuel Kant, a prominent figure in deontological ethics, sought to establish morality based on reason rather than on religious faith or utilitarian calculus. Kant focused on the concept of duty over the production of happiness or the calculation of benefits, rejecting the notion that humans should be used merely as means to an end. He developed the categorical imperative, a rule of moral reasoning asserting that one should act only in ways that could be universally applied. This imperative is derived from the idea that human beings have an innate sense of right and wrong, based on the practical necessity of certain moral laws for the continuation and flourishing of civilized life.
Kantian ethics promotes a society where moral action is not based on outcomes or consequences but rather on goodwill and a sense of moral duty. Kant's ethical framework is composed of perfect duties, which are obligations that we are expected to follow without fail, such as not lying, stealing, or harming others. His philosophy provides a base for understanding moral imperatives that are not dependent on individual preferences but on what is reasonably willable by all rational beings.
For Kant, the goal of ethical behavior is not to maximize happiness or personal gain but to adhere to moral principles that respect human beings as rational agents deserving of dignity. Such an approach to morality is less about the privileges or total amount of happiness in the world, and more about adherence to a set of universal moral principles grounded in rational thought and the intrinsic worth of individuals.