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A maxim is a moral rule or principle, which can be considered dependent on one's philosophy. A maxim is often pedagogical and motivates specific actions. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy defines it as: Generally any simple and memorable rule or guide for living; for example, 'neither a borrower nor a lender be'.
A contradiction in conception happens when, if a maxim were to be universalized, it ceases to make coherent sense because the "maxim would necessarily destroy itself as soon as it was made a universal law." [18] For example, if maxims equivalent to 'I will break a promise when doing so secures my advantage' were universalized, no one would ...
The concept of universalizability was set out by the 18th-century German philosopher Immanuel Kant as part of his work Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals.It is part of the first formulation of his categorical imperative, which states that the only morally acceptable maxims of our actions are those that could rationally be willed to be universal law.
The general concept or principle of moral universalizability is that moral principles, maxims, norms, facts, predicates, rules, etc., are universally true; that is, if they are true as applied to some particular case (an action, person, etc.) then they are true of all other cases of this sort.
Because laws of nature are by definition universal, Kant claims we may also express the categorical imperative as: [8] Act as if the maxims of your action were to become through your will a universal law of nature. Kant divides the duties imposed by this formulation into two sets of two subsets.
The Kingdom of Ends is a hypothetical state of existence that is derived from Kant's categorical imperative.A Kingdom of Ends is composed entirely of rational beings, whom Kant defines as those capable of moral deliberation (though his definition expands in other areas) who must choose to act by laws that imply an absolute necessity.
Dictum de omni (sometimes misinterpreted as universal instantiation) [2] is the principle that whatever is universally affirmed of a kind is affirmable as well for any subkind of that kind. Example: (1) Dogs are mammals. (2) Mammals have livers. Therefore (3) dogs have livers. Premise (1) states that "dog" is a subkind of the kind "mammal".
Natural law [1] (Latin: ius naturale, lex naturalis) is a philosophical and legal theory that posits the existence of a set of inherent laws derived from nature and universal moral principles, which are discoverable through reason.