Kant coined his universalizing formulation in order to deduce a principle of evaluating the actions to be produced by a human being with consciousness and reason. The formulation aims at establishing moral conditions of mind satisfying humanity as a whole and each person in particular. The formulation could justify itself; namely, the invocation of the general will of all humans guarantees the consistency and applicability of the thesis. To be precise, the categorical imperative commands people to act so that the effects of their deeds would be in accordance with their will. In turn, their will includes the need to be treated so as to establish their good. Since every human desire to attain good (however, in different ways), the most common desire would be to follow the law or set of principles that could satisfy others. Then, the moral will be to fulfill this common desire to benefit oneself and other people, which tests the strength of volition. Hence, the categorical imperative is self-evident but not recognizable by people with a mere understanding of the nature of will.
I will discuss in terms of the universalizing formulation of a situation of putting a “beware of dog” sign on my front door while I have none. The motivation behind such an action could be a desire to reduce the probability of intervention on my property by intimidating people. Suggestively, I will do that because of the need for security and the elimination of any disturbance. Although the sign may prevent visits from intruders or even burglars, it may emotionally distress my neighbors and friends. Moreover, after recognizing that the sign yet may not indicate the presence of a dog, others may bear this knowledge when seeing other signs of the same use. Applying Kant’s categorical imperative for the case would be as follows:
- Step 1: To determine the maxim of action.
- For my wish for safety and calmness, I can use the sign that would prevent others from entering my property effectively, although the sign’s purpose does not correspond to my use of it.
- Step 2: To Formulate the maxim as universal.
- When anyone wants to protect their house from intervention or disturbance of unwanted guests, they could place the sign “Beware of the dog” on their doors and expect the effectiveness of this effort.
- Step 3: To determine if the maxim is genuinely universal.
- Since the sign’s purpose would be ignored by people who place it, it would not serve them. Burglars and unwanted guests will recognize the falsity of the sign and stop considering it a threat.