Kant: Right and Wrong Aren't Just Opinions

In this lecture, Lee Braver introduces Immanuel Kant's moral philosophy by positioning it as a critique of utilitarian thinking. Braver explains why Kant believed that genuine ethics cannot be relative, contingent, or based on the pursuit of happiness. Instead, morality must be universal and necessary, applying to any rational being anywhere, even hypothetical aliens. The lecture explores Kant's argument that moral agency depends on the capacity to reason and choose freely, not simply on the ability to feel pleasure and pain. Braver walks through Kant's case against consequentialism, arguing that what matters is doing the right thing for its own sake, not the outcomes that follow. He also examines Kant's reasons for why happiness is an unreliable foundation for ethics, since people can be happy for bad reasons. The result is an ethics that is a priori, derived from logic, and grounded in duty rather than inclination.