Categorical Imperative To Poverty Essay

There is a certain level of poverty which makes it impossible to lead the good life. Rich do not lead the best life, they too suffer the let downs that are sure to occur. It is not impossible to live poor and live well. Poverty, does not allow someone to live the good life when they are no longer allowed to live the human life. Extreme forms of poverty occur where many individuals no longer have safe shelter, food, or necessary healthcare. These destitute individuals sometimes become vagrants. Is there a way to change the cycle before it gets to that level by way of happiness and virtue? I will review the way Onora O’Neill applies Immanuel Kant’s second formulation of the categorical imperative to poverty. Then we will also look at JS Mills …show more content…
This theory states that an action is right, if and only if it promotes the best consequences for all the relevant stakeholders. There is no specification of how this must occur. Therein, lies a potential problem. We could exterminate all of the poor and decrease the unhappiness ratio they provide. Our moral obligation is to not interfere with the attempt of the poor to lead the good life. It is not likely that the entire poor population would consent to their own demise and as a result the deontological principle of utilitarianism alone, will not provide us a solution that had universal …show more content…
Poor people are treated this way all of the time. When we force the poor to work for decreased wages they have become the means to a larger profit. We must refuse to treat people this way. Second, we should treat people as the ends in and of themselves. That is to say, we are to treat people that they are worthy. In order to establish this worth, we are obligated to teach them and provide better resources to ensure that the poor can not only achieve but also secure the good life. In establishing this we have followed the utilitarianism required balance, reducing pain and increasing