Significance Of Kant's Theory Of Deontology In Captain America

Captain America Steve Rogers was a regular, undersized, want to be soldier. Unfortunately for him, he was never big enough to qualify for military duty. This was until he was offered a chance to become a candidate for an experimental procedure that would allow him to serve his country as he had always wanted. He managed to impress enough to be picked for the procedure. After a series of painful series of injections, Steve became bigger, stronger, and faster. He then adopted the persona of Captain America, unfortunately for him he was being utilized as an actor trying to help raise funds for the war. This was until he seized upon an opportunity to become something more. He was overseas near the frontline when he learned that a large number of soldiers had been captured. There …show more content…
Immanuel Kant and his theory of deontology would argue that some of the tactics that Captain America uses are not right and he is in fact unethical. Deontology judges actions based on their adherence to the rules set in place (Kant). So when Captain America lies to people (generally to protect people), he is being unethical in the eyes of Immanuel Kant. However, one of the criticisms of Kant’s theory of Deontology is that it does not take into account situation. This means that at times when most people would deem it to be acceptable to lie, such as to protect others, or when Captain America is trying to gain a strategic advantage over an enemy, he is still being unethical in the eyes of Kant. Immanuel Kant’s argument for this is, what if everyone acted like this? If everyone lied to protect others or to gain a strategic advantage then they would eventually not be protecting people or gaining any advantage because everyone would know that the other person was lying (Kant). It is interesting that Kant would find Captain America, someone who almost everyone finds to be almost morally perfect, to be