Kant And Mill Argumentative Analysis

Improved Essays
Throughout our lives we have always tried to come up with different solutions to solve several different problems. As a kid a common solution we always had but could never do is to blow things up. If we could just totally get rid of our problem, then that certain problem will never arise again. This dilemma is still a problem in today’s modern society and if we should just send a nuclear missile to deal with our enemies. Yes, this would be a quick and easy solution to the problem, but the real issue with that is the morality behind it. If we decide to send a nuclear missile, we can only imagine the millions of innocent lives that are lost just because we wanted a quick and easy solution. Kant and Mill would both have different solutions to …show more content…
Mill would say that his theory has no flaw as well because he says that we should strive for better pleasures and that it is better to be dissatisfied then to be “pig satisfied,” so if we decided to nuke the problem at hand then we are not striving for a higher pleasure, but instead settling for a selfish pleasure that only we are only satisfied with (Mill 367). To sum it up, both Kant and Mill have solutions to the potential flaws that might be in their theories.

In conclusion, Kant and Mill both have different solutions when it comes to the ethical problem of nuking, Kant would say to not drop the nuke because it is unmoral, and it could never be a universal law. Mill would say that if dropping the nuke produces higher pleasure for you then you should do it and if it does not give you higher pleasure then you should not do it. If I was put in this situation I would have to agree with Kant’s theory and not nuke the problem at hand because I do not think it is ethical because you are sacrificing millions of lives for your personal

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Kant’s main idea is that the thought behind your actions is what determines if it’s wrong or right, not the outcome, he uses categorical imperative. So, the moral of your action is judged by the principal that provokes the action, not the outcome as I stated above. He calls these principles “maxim”. He says “the only acceptable maxim are those that can be defined as a universal law, because it is without exception” (pg.98). He uses an example of his view of morality of suicide.…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In the article, Catton briefly stated some comparison concerning Lee and Grant, as well. One of the similarities that he mention was they were both determined to end the war peacefully. This comparison can be proven when Catton stated, “To turn quickly from the war to peace once the fighting was over . . . in the end, help the two sections to become one nation again,” concerning Lee and Grant. These quotes support the author believes the main similarities between Lee and Grant was both two strong men physically and mentally to protect their people.…

    • 150 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This essay is going to be a argumentative essay about krakauer opinion of Chris McCandless. Krakauer mood changes throughout the book/story about how he feels about Chris he says a lot of stuff that he might disagrees and sometimes he agrees with him about it. Krakauer talk a lot of Chris because of the choices he made during the story and how he lived and how he tried to survive in the wild. I will also be talking about how he connects and the opposite of what he says about Chris McCandless. Krakauer didn't like Chris decisions about going in the wild because he was going to die there without any food or any place to stay or sleep or rest.…

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The antebellum period had many supporters that believed that slavery was uncivilized and wrong. This was a time period that struck an uproar in history because it spoke up against the wrong doings of slavery. One of the runaway slaves that contributed to this historical period was Fredrick Douglass. He ran away to the north in search of financial stability and freedom. Many people in the north; however, did not want to work alongside a black man.…

    • 331 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    While reading paragraph one Mr.Douglass made a very interesting analogy. He compared the nation to a river. Also giving the audience details on how to prevent such an atrocity. He explains how we still have a chance unlike the bigger nations such as Britain. In paragraph two I will speak of how the United states is a river and then in paragraph 3 I will discuss how he states we can avoid becoming a”sad tale of departed glory”.…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Fredrick Douglass initially scorned both political parties of his time, the Democrats and Republicans, for being too pro-slavery and compromising too regularly on issues of slavery. From Lincoln 's early presidency, Douglass criticized Lincoln before the emancipation proclamation, stating "Whoever live through the next four years will see Mr. Lincoln and his Administration attacked more bitterly for their pro-slavery truckling, than for doing any anti-slavery work. " Instead of compromise, Douglass believed that the Republican Party would have to transform from an anti-slavery party into a fully abolitionist institution. Although Fredrick Douglass believed himself to be separate from the Republicans because of their more moderate views, he…

    • 1119 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In John Stuart Mill’s influential book “Utilitarianism”, Mill introduces the belief that moral action is based upon the concept of utility, or how he explains it, the greatest happiness principle. It is this greatest happiness principle that defines Utilitarianism as the notion that the best moral actions are those that promote the most amount of human happiness. Actions that would be regarded as the least favorable are those that promote the opposite, unhappiness. The concept of Utilitarianism and that of Consequentialism are similar as both judge the moral value of an action dependent on its consequences, however each claim leads to different conclusions.…

    • 1497 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While Mill was a consequentialist in that he only cared about the outcome of his actions, Kant was a deontologist who cares only about the motives of an action. In The Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, his second formulation of the categorical imperative, a rule that all must follow, states “man and generally any rational being exists as an end in himself, not merely as a means to be arbitrarily used by this or that will, but in all his actions, whether they concern himself or other rational beings, must be always regarded at the same time as an end” (35). Therefore, I can never use a person to obtain anything else. Kant’s view is practical, unlike Mill’s, in that it does not require the agent to weigh net happiness and instead lets him make split-second decisions quickly, and without lasting guilt, as the agent knows that his action was merely following the rules (even though avoiding guilt is not Kant’s purpose). In the trolley example, we cannot pull the pulley because we are purposely killing one man to save five…

    • 1632 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In some courses in which, maker Alexa Meade could be an old figure painter, duplicating the daylight and shadow that falls on the form during an authentic strategy. Be that as it may she takes a shot at relate degree unprecedented canvas: the specific shape. besides, he or she takes a set up manufacture — trompe l'oeil, the claim to fame of making a two-dimensional portrayal look three-dimensional — and turns it on its head.. Her point is to do to the inverse, to fall profundity and make her living models into level film.(Meade, In Reverse Trompe L’Oeil, Models Are Both Subject and Painting Surface, 2011 )(1) Meade's creative way to deal with antiquated picture originates from her enthusiasm for changing the individual before of her.…

    • 1169 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Through Mill’s view on Utilitarianism there emerges a core moral theory called the greatest happiness principle. However, I believe that Mill’s Greatest Happiness Principle is false. I believe this because after examining his theory I noticed several flaws within his theory. Before I say what is wrong with Mill’s argument and theory I want to address the definition of the greatest happiness principle and what all it encompasses. Mill believes that “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, [and] wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness” (Mill,97).…

    • 1145 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The criterion of right and wrong controversy has yet to be concluded though many years of argumentation have ensued. Mill attempts to explain the criterion of right and wrong using the concept of utilitarianism. Utility is not something that should be contrasted with pleasure, but rather pleasure itself with the freedom of pain. The criterion of right and wrongness is introduced for utility as the actions are right in proportion if they promote happiness and are wrong in proportion if they produced the reverse of happiness. Happiness is defined by pleasure and the absence of pain and unhappiness is vice versa.…

    • 1637 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In this paper about ethical theories and cases I chose to discuss the positions of John Mill and Immanuel Kant, due to their dissimilar views on morality and ethical theories. From the four cases, I chose to apply the two philosopher’s theories to case number two. This case states the dilemma “My full-time (but not live-in) babysitter hinted that she would like to use my address to enroll her daughter in my excellent local public elementary school; her neighborhood school is awful. The alternative is for her to send her daughter to private school, a financial burden but not an impossibility. Should I offer my address?”…

    • 1295 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    If one hundred people, were asked what does it mean to live the good life, no two responses would be exactly the same. Even though everyone’s response would be different, many of the responses would most likely include being happy. Similarly to how people’s responses would differ if asked the original question, everyone would have their own definition of what happiness means to them because certain words mean different things to different people. Many of the authors that were covered in class talked about happiness and its relation to the good life. The authors that gave the most insight into their view of happiness were Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, and John Stuart Mill.…

    • 1325 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    John Stuart Mill is a very important and popular philosopher in the 19th century. He is one of the earliest advocates of Utilitarianism. He defines the theory of utilitarianism in his book, Utilitarianism. It focuses on the general good of individual pleasure. Mill tried to provide evidence for his theory of moral utilitarianism and refutes all the arguments against it in his book.…

    • 1239 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Philosophers Mill and Kant provide divergent views on morals and ethics. Mill 's philosophy of Utilitarianism and Kant 's philosophy of Categorical impartial are two examples. Kant’s philosophy is a theory that People should do the right thing, even if that produces more harm than doing the wrong thing. Mills philosophy is a theory that the action that makes the most overall happiness is what is morally…

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays