Ethics Of Housemates Essay

This paper shall talk about a dilemma where 8 housemates have to conserve water or be evicted. The problem is one of the housemates does not think his impact on conservation will affect their eviction so he wants to continue his water use. To deal with this issue kantian ethics will be applied, first must apply the categorical procedure of universal law to this argument to see if this is the right thing to do, second must make sure that John is not using his housemates as a means, and finally decide if John is safe to proceed with his decision. Kant talks about his Formula of Universal Law which he explains as thus: “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.” (pg.30). Kant also talks about Contradictions in Conception when something is universalized it becomes ineffective and a Contradiction of Will which states even when universalized we cannot rationally perform this action. Knowing this information there is a …show more content…
We would have to limit the size of universalizing it to a select few; because if we universalized it to the world it wouldn't apply to everyone which would let John off the hook. This also brings up a problem with being too specific John could get away with doing what he wanted if I didnt limit the size of universalizing it to just the 8 housemates. I think his humanitarian argument is the stronger of the two formulas since it can apply to almost any situation. It's literally “do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself”(pg.36). People shouldn't treat people like objects since no one wants to be an object and everyone should treat each other with respect. If we universalized Kant's humanity argument to everyone then the world would be a better place. It feels like everyone can opt in and out of being good to each other but maybe the upbringing makes them not have that Kantian