Kantianism Case Study Essay

It is always a tragedy when a loved one passes. To add to the heartbreak, there are many difficult decisions that the family must make. These decisions can be a lot easier if your loved ones talk to you before they pass on what their wishes are, or so you’d think.
The Briggs family is faced with a difficult decision to make when their Grandpa Joe passes. Grandpa Joe has entrusted the decisions of his funeral to his daughter Judith. He told her that he wishes to be buried in a casket with a large marble gravestone, and to be buried where a few of his ancestors have been buried. After his funeral and the rest of his expenses are paid he wishes that the rest of his estate is to be split between his three children and their families. The problem Judith is confronted with is to do as her father wishes, which will cost around $10,000, or cremate him as his wife was, which will only cost $1500. This would not be an issue but the money her and her siblings would inherent is a lot more if they ignore their father’s wishes and cremate him. Judith’s two siblings said told her they will support whatever decision she makes. What arrangements should Judith make …show more content…
Personally, I would side with the Kantianism view of philosophy in this particular case. Kantianism respects the wishes of the deceased, while act utilitarianism only looks at the best action for the greatest amount of people. While Kantianism in many cases can be a harder theory to agree with because many people have a problem with the second maxim, I believe in this case it is a better outlet than act utilitarianism. Act utilitarianism looks solely on the end result and how many people benefit from that result, it does not look on the actions a person takes to get to that end result. I believe when making any decision on what action to take you need to take account who will be effected by the decisions you make and the acts you