Quick questions on Kantian deontology and the categorical imperative: QCE Philosophy and Reason

Kant's first formulation: act only on that maxim (the principle of your action) that you could will to become a universal law. To test an action, universalise its maxim and ask whether it could hold for everyone without contradiction. A lying promise fails: if everyone made lying promises, the practice of promising would collapse, so the maxim cannot be consistently universalised. The will would contradict itself in willing both to make a promise and to destroy promising.

Kant's second formulation: act so as to treat humanity, whether in yourself or another, always as an end and never merely as a means. Persons are rational agents with dignity, not mere tools. Deceiving or coercing someone uses them merely as a means, because they cannot rationally consent to the deception. This formula grounds respect for persons and underpins much of modern human-rights thinking.

Distinguish a categorical from a hypothetical imperative. [3 marks]

Apply the formula of universal law to a lying promise. [4 marks]

State one objection to Kantian ethics. [2 marks]