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’s Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals starts off by saying there is only one thing that is good without qualification which is a good will. Something can only be good if it is well-matched with a good will. In fact, “a good will is” according to him, “is good not because of what it effects or accomplishes, nor because of its fitness to attain some proposed end; it is good only through its willing i.e., it is good in itself” (7). He states that these specific obligations of a good will are called duties and then makes three propositions about them. Kant then says that “I should never act except in such a way that I can also will that my maxim…
The foundation of the metaphysics of morals is a critical examination of a pure practical reason.…
In this analytical paper I’ll be analyzing a scenario about a five year old girl who is in renal failure and is in need of a kidney transplant. In this the father is the only one compatible with her, but he does not want to donate his kidney to save her life. The scenario will be analyzed through the deontological/Kantian and the consequentialist/utilitarian viewpoints in ethical decision making. It’ll also be analyzed by deciding which perspective would be relevant and a discussion of what I as a doctor would do following the ethical view point of my choice.…
For Immanuel Kant, guilt is considered a necessary condition for punishment and judicial punishment can never be used merely as a means to promote some other good for the criminal himself or civil society. He argues that, an offender must first be found to be deserving of punishment before any consideration is given to the utility of punishment for himself or his fellow citizens. In this view, utilitarian concerns can never justify the punishment of an innocent person while guilt itself demands punishment even where punishment is entirely devoid of social utility. Therefore, again we observe that the best action is the one that maximizes utility and can be applied in various ways, but most commonly relates to the maintenance of healthy emotional…
From the way that Kant has been interpreted as a constructivist under the standard model, as Wood’s revealed, one can remark three points about this approach: Overemphasizing on the Formula of Universal Law (FUL), Conception of Value, Conception of Autonomy.…
This essay aims to argue the views of two different theorist, Jeremy Bentham and Immanuel Kant, with regards to their views on moral worth of an action. The idea of good and bad creates heated debates among many, but this essay will successfully unravel the layers of Bentham’s theory of Utilitarianism and his belief that all our motives are driven by pleasure and pain. While arguing Kant’s opposing argument that moral worth of an act revolves around democratic attitudes, and that moral truths are founded on reasons that is logical to all people. When one breaks down both theories, it occurs that Kant’s theory comes out to be the more sensible one in numerous aspects.…
Emmanuel Kant (hereinafter “Kant”) believes that Ethics is categorical and states that our moral duties are not dependent on feelings but on reason. He further states that our moral duties are unconditional, universally valid, and necessary, regardless of the possible consequences or opposition to our inclinations (Pojman and Vaughn 239).…
Kant philosophy has contributed in development of "pure" moral philosophy, a "metaphysics of morals" that is based on the concepts of reason, not on empirical observations. According to his philosophy moral obligations are applicable to all human beings as it applies not only for particular person in particular situation, but also to all rational beings in all circumstances.…
Imperfect duties are laxer duties, which means you will be free to choose what you want to do to promote yourself. We choose to exercise to get health but we can accord our ability to set the exercise schedule. Taking recreational drugs to maximize our pleasure can’t provide us any promotion to neither to ourselves nor to the society besides getting high temporary. It is a process do not need you do anything to yourself or to society except taking drugs. And if everyone are addict to bring by drugs their life will get worse because they find that they can get pleasure so easily. And finally people may stop doing anything to get pleasure because they already have.…
Immanuel Kant states that the only thing in this world that is “good without qualification” is the good will. He states the attributes of character such as intelligence, wit, and judgment are considered good but can be used for the wrong reasons. Kant also states that the attributes of good fortune such as health, power, riches, honor, that provide one happiness can also be used in the wrong way (7). In order to understand Kant’s view of moral rightness, one must understand that only a good will is unambiguously good without qualification, it is “good in itself”. To clarify, Kant states that “a good will is good not because of what it effects or accomplishes, nor because of its fitness to attain some proposed end; it is good only through its willing, i.e. it is good in itself” (7). To Kant, a good will is the only thing that gives action moral worth. Human beings were granted with reason not only to attain self-preservation and a state of happiness, but “its true function must be to produce a will which is not merely good as a mean to some further end, but it good in itself” (9). Human beings are called to exercise reason through duty to bring a universal good to all. This duty, living according to our highest reason, must be exercised through action that is beneficial and non-contradictory to all. Duty has three major qualifications for Kant. One must recognize that duty is good in itself when an action is performed out of the need of the completion of the duty itself, such as one who abstains from supporting a large restaurant corporation that inhumanely raise cattle or poultry, because he or she recognizes that it is a duty to not perpetuate unethical practice. Or one who carefully recycles their waste not because of the pleasure of being an enlightened “green” individual, but because of the recognition that it is “good in itself” to reuse products. The second…
One of the approaches of ethics which bases morality on foundational principle of obligations or duties is called Deontology (Fieser, 2015). Deontological ethics is concerned on the action being morally right because of some characteristic of the action itself, not because the consequences or the outcome of the action is good (Brittanica.com, 2015). For instance, lying is morally wrong but if a person has to commit a lie in order to save the life of someone, the action of that person would still be wrong although that action may produce a good outcome (BBC.co.uk, 2014). The theories of Immanuel Kant and Sir William David Ross are widely known in the field of deontological…
Emmanuel Kant argues that the human understanding of our world is perceived by our experiences and only through them can we gain knowledge. Kant’s philosophic question is rooted in the theory of understanding; in short, what can we know and how can we know it? Most of our knowledge of the world can be derived from our observation of it. As children, we see things, touch things, smell things and so on. Gradually, we understand the world in which we live in; this is the knowledge of sense-perception. For example, wind has no physical form but we can see its effects and can classify it as being part of nature. Kant, however, perceives knowledge only through our experiences. So going back to the example of wind, Kant would say we have knowledge of wind not because we…
To further his explanation, Kant begins the passage by explaining that the First Proposition of Morality is that “an action must be done from a sense of duty, if it is to have moral worth.” He now explains a situation where…
What Kant means in "acting out of duty" is that one must act based on what they feel is right in their heart. There needs to be no motive or influence behind it, but just to act as what should be considered right. Acting out of duty is to act "out of concern and respect for the moral law" (McKinnon, pg.76). I think this type of acting out on a situation is based on what the heart feels, sympathy perhaps to a certain situation. Moral law is based on knowing what is right and what is wrong with judgement of what others believe to be right or wrong.…