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.…
The manager of the store is good friends with Sammy's parents, and they are the ones who got him the job. First person point of view shows the reader how Sammy overreacts as the story is foretold. The boy has to have patience being a cashier and must learn to cope with his frustration. At the beginning of the story you can tell that Sammy is not a very responsible cashier as he gets caught off guard when he sees a few girls entering the store. Because of this distraction, the customer who is at the counter starts throwing a fit simply because he rang up the same object twice. Immediately the reader catches a glimpse of the inner personality of Sammy. He picked out everything wrong with this witch in order to block his anger. After this encounter, we all know that Sammy is a little critical in the way he views people. Sammy watches the girls as they stroll around the store in awe of their imperfections. His hypocritical notion of these non-perfect girls is contradictory to himself because he himself is not close to perfect. Sammy comes from a blue-collar family with nothing to show for more than a small house and a small name.…
The word Deon is the Greek word for “duty” which is the central focus on Kant’s moral reasoning. It is the fulfillment of one’s moral duties and obligations to do the right thing because it is the right thing to do by the use of reason, logic, critical thinking and moral intuition, the moral duty to just do the right thing. The main ethical reasoning of Kant’s deontological ethics is based upon the concepts of duty and goodwill, the intention to do the right thing because it is the right thing to do which should be based on consistent and logical thinking and putting aside our personal interests and…
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 story there are tensions between the Queenie and the manager, Sammy and Queenie, and Sammy and the manager. A and P is a grocery store that is ran pretty strictly by Sammy’s manager. By the sound of it there is a very high work ethic and the rules are followed very…
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.…
In “A Simplified Account of Kantian Ethics”, author Onora O’Neill makes the claim that Kantianism and Utilitarianism have 2 distinct views on human life and the way it’s value should guide an individual’s morals. She firstly focuses on explaining the Utilitarian perspective on individual purpose and life value, rather dramatically calling it a task “not for the faint-hearted” (O’Neill, 4). Fundamentally, utilitarianism upholds a standard of maximizing utility, meaning that no one individual’s happiness is to be ranked above the greater good in importance. She describes Utilitarianism as “dauntingly long, indeed interminable,” (O’Neill, 4) which I personally think is true of any moral theory, Kantianism included, but more so for Utilitarianism because of its requirement of self-sacrifice.…
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.…
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).…
This theory has been deemed an anti-concept i.e. an inconsistent concept that obliterates other cardinal concepts. In this case, duty destroys rationality. Ayn Rand goes as far as to say duty is “a metaphysical and psychological killer”, thereupon hindering a man’s capacity to act according to his will and reason. Kant’s philosophy of duty is self-refuting. It relies on the rationality of humans and yet its authoritarian deontology deprives man of his rationality and confines him to strictly objective speculation and limited mental processing. If one strives only to pursue one’s duty and to live whereby the rules of an unaccountable authority take precedence over one’s own judgment, one cannot have the opportunity to be rational.…
In Kant’s book, The Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, he believes that the “good will” is only good in itself and that reason is what produces the “goodness” of the “good will.” According to Kant, to act out of a “good will” means to act out of “duty,” or doing something because you find it necessary to do. Also, “good will” is will that is in accordance with reason. He believes everyone has a moral obligation or duty to do actions and he backs his theory up by discussing his idea of the “moral law.”…
Fraud is generally defined as an omission of a material fact or a misrepresentation of the truth, intended for personal gain or to cause loss to another party. The act of fraud is most commonly committed in order to deprive another of money, property, or a legal right. Fraud is considered criminal activity, and anyone who is affected by a fraudulent act has the ability to file a lawsuit to collect damages. J.C. Penny was accused of marking up the prices on their products and then discounting them to the original price in order to trick customers into thinking they were receiving heavy discounts and better deals. J.C. Penny committed this act for their own personal gain, and in doing so, they deprived their customers of money that they would…
When we talk about whether or not a person is ethically right, we can look at the actions that he or she may partake in. These actions maybe studied in different situations such as the one that we were told to evaluate. While leaving the grocery store, one witnesses an old man struggling with his oxygen tank. Without thinking, you lift the tank and help the elderly man. This action is a kind gesture, but would we consider this a moral act? One could analyze this situation with two different ethical theories, by Kantian and/or Aristotelian views.…
Immanuel Kant created a handful of formulations regarding his system of determining morality, the Categorical Imperative. James and Stuart Rachels in The Elements of Moral Philosophy, illuminate Kant's first and second Categorical Imperatives. While Kant claims the formulations are equivalent, they offer differing guidelines on how the Categorical Imperative is operated. Although the formulations share the same basis, the difference regarding how the formulations are adhered, is a large distinction difficult to ignore, and renders the two versions as separate subjects.…