The contents of this paper will analyze the GM ignition case using several concepts taught in ethics. This will include a background of the issue as well as a detailed evaluation of the decision by GM from the utilitarianism and Kantian perspective. This will show that GM’s decision was morally wrong as well as prove that GM should be held morally responsible for their actions.…
June Tangney’s short essay, “Condemn the Crime, Not the Person”, is about the difference between two emotions: shame and guilt. There is a problem in the court system when it comes to traditional sentences. There are people who even encourage America to look for shaming as a way to save money rather than taking care of an inmate in jail. However, Tangney states that recently, there is a realization that these cheaper ways are actually not effective. It makes the criminal’s situation worse, according to the author. The two feelings of shame and guilt are very different. I agree with Tangney’s argument because punishing a criminal should be in the fairest way with the…
There is an old saying that it is better to be lucky than good. This may be true if a person is always lucky, but luck sometimes has a tendency to run out. Making decisions that affect other people’s lives based on luck can be sometimes dangerous, and usually ethically questionable. Leaders who routinely depend on luck for success may find themselves relying on other questionable actions, such as lying, cheating, or stealing, to ensure luck stays on their side. Additionally, this type of behavior may force subordinates to make ethically questionable decisions when luck begins to run out.…
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from the 18th century who is well known as an essential person in philosophy today. He has made the argument that there are a set of essential ideas that structure human experience and is the source of morality. His thought continues to have a major influence in contemporary thought, especially the fields of metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, and aesthetics. Kant’s theory on morality as often been criticized on being too…
In this essay I’m going to address questions concerning Kant’s grounding for the metaphysics of morals. First, I will describe each of his examples of acts done out of desire and acts done out of duty. Then I will answer the following questions: 1. What conclusion about moral worth does Kant use these examples to illustrate? 2. Whether I agree or disagree with Kant that if you perform an action out of duty, then the act has more moral worth that it would if you were to perform it out of the desire to make someone else happy—using my own example of a moral act done out of the desire to make someone else happy.…
In the articles “Condemn the Crime, Not the Person” by June Tangney and “Shame is Worth a Try” by Dan Kahan the authors discuss alternatives to incarceration to non-violent crimes. In Kahan’s article he introduces the alternative called “Shame Sentencing”(574) and June Tangney introduces the alternative to incarceration and shaming with a future productive “Guilt Sentencing.”(568) In their articles Tangney and Kahan both have valid points regarding the use of shame sentencing as an alternative to imprisonment; Tangney argues that “shaming” is wrong and offers a beneficial alternative in community service, whereas Kahan barely comes to a conclusion that shame “is worth a try”. (Kahan 574)…
Moving forward, we examine the rehabilitation view. This view of punishment fails the guilt requirement because the criminal justice system would have to sort out all the potential criminals from society and attempt to rehabilitate them and attempt to make them into a better person, which would be nearly impossible. It also fails the equal treatment requirement because each criminal would require a different form of…
It is my belief that the essay “The Case for Torture” is flawed and that Torture is impermissible whatever the case.…
Kant’s moral theory begins from the starting point of the good will. In assessing the moral worth on an action we must focus not on the consequences of results of the action, but on the agent’s will ( the motivation of conducting an action is really important).…
Today, the death penalty is an issue that has raised many questions in regards to its morality. Many people believe that the death penalty is immoral for a number of factors, some of which being the execution of innocents, the arbitrary application of the death penalty, and the racial and economic discrimination with the system. Many others believe that the death penalty is moral, for it gives people what they deserve, the criminals were fully aware of the consequences that may fall upon them, and that justice is being served for the victims and families of the victims still suffering from the actions of the criminal. In this paper I will argue that from a Deontological standpoint, the death penalty is morally just. To do this, I will first describe the basics of the theory of Deontology in general, so that you, the reader, can begin to understand some of the fundamental beliefs that Kant, the father of Deontology,…
When there are million’s of people incarcerated throughout the United States, the ethical treatment of prisoner’s rights must be analyzed. Throughout the years many modifications have been made to accommodate inmates and preserve their basic human rights. Have we as a society done enough regarding the ethical treatment of prisoners or have we made their lives in prison too easy that it is no longer a punishment for them? There are many people in the United States who have strong feelings of what is right and wrong and fall on both sides of this question. Utilitarianism is the belief that moral rules should be choices made by a society to promote the happiness of its members (Mosser, 2010). Through the utilitarian view the argument could be made that these prisoners are being treated to good and not good enough. Utilitarianism gives an understandable, theoretical foundation for moral decision making. Prior to coming to a decision upon a course of action, the utilitarian is asked to consider its effects on the entire population over an infinite period of time (Mosser, 2010).…
The first priority of any circumstance and the greatest value is human rights. No one should be treated as just a means, each person should be given a sense of humanity. As he announces in this, “So act as to treat humanity, whether in thine own person or in that of any other, in every case as and withal, never as means only.” (Vaughn, p.105). Kant’s view of punishment is that any crime no matter what it is, they should not be punished for justice. As he says in this, “Kant thinks that criminals should be punished only because they perpetrated crimes; the public good is irrelevant. In addition, Kant thinks that the central principle of punishment should fit the crime.” (Vaughn,…
When there are millions of people incarcerated throughout the United States, the ethical treatment of prisoner’s rights has to be analyzed. Through the years many modifications have been made for inmates and their basic human rights. I sometimes wonder have we as a society, made their lives in prison too easy that it is no longer a punishment for them. There are many people in the United States who have strong feelings of what is right and wrong to this question. Utilitarianism is the belief that moral rules should be choices made by a society to promote the happiness of its members (Mosser, 2010). Through the eye of utilitarian, the argument could be that these prisoners are being treated to good and not good enough. Utilitarianism gives us an understandable foundation for moral decision making. Prior to coming to a decision upon a course of action, the utilitarian is asked to consider its effects on the entire population over an infinite period of time (Mosser, 2010).…
Stakeholder, pleasure v. pain, numerical model of Utilitarianism - Utilitarian analysis as per required model (See required Utilitarian model below)…
Packer, H. L. (1968). Justification for Criminal Punishment. In The Limits of Criminal Sanction (pp. 36-37). Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.…