Essay On Utilitarian Ethics

The world is not a black and white place. While it’s easy to know right from wrong in concepts of killing someone, or a less extreme of lying, it’s also important to note that the entire picture plays a part in the ultimate decision made. My views on looking at the entire picture and recognizing exceptions I believe I fall into the Feminine Moralists. When I think about situations I often see myself trying to think about what options can be taken to resolve the issue. After thinking of some of the options I know of I then have to think about what the outcome may be, who this affect, and what will happen to those affected. One situation that comes to mind would be if my family was starving. What would I do if we were unable to find the money …show more content…
It’s hard for me to agree that “..the ends justify the means.” (281) If we were to make a decision that was based just on our happiness and pleasure we might be in turn hurting another person, so I don’t think morally I could accept this approach unless more thought was put into how my decision would affect …show more content…
Kant recognizes that morality is not about obtaining happiness but rather acting upon obligations and acting in a way that is right thing to do because “[t]he right thing to do is your duty, for the sake of duty alone.” However, this very same point I agree with is also the point that made me go with Feminine ethics. If I hadn’t known about feminine moralists and we hadn’t gone over such an extreme situation in class I may have gone with this ethical perspective. It stands however, sometimes the right thing or what we consider to be our duty has to be over looked in a situation based approach, such as with the Jews and Nazi example we went over in