Kantianism Vs Utilitarianism Essay

Abortion has long presented a real-world ethical issue that invokes many differing viewpoints on the morality of terminating a fetus during a pregnancy. While modern medicine and technology now allow women to undergo an abortion based on their own will and need in many countries, that does not necessarily make the act of abortion ethically correct. The optimal manner of examining this issue is through the application of different moral philosophical theories—in this case, Kantianism and Utilitarianism. While the two theories offer essentially opposite views on the issue, I find that Utilitarianism offers a superior answer to the moral question of abortion because it offers a more nuanced approach to understanding, justifying, and resolving the ethical issues of abortion. Kantianism is the moral philosophical theory of Immanuel Kant. Kant’s theory hinges on the belief that moral laws can be derived from reason, therefore making all immoral behavior unreasonable or irrational. Kantianism utilizes the idea of the categorical imperative—that is, a law of morality that all humans have a duty to obey. Kant believed that all moral decisions can be made with the aid of the categorical imperative. Kant’s first formulation of the categorical imperative states: an action is morally right if and only if the agent can consistently will it to be a …show more content…
Therefore, persons wishing to act in an ethically sound manner should strive to bring about the greatest possible amount of happiness for the greatest possible number of people. Similarly, people incapable of making choices that produce happiness should instead strive to create the least amount of unhappiness. Utilitarianism is focused on the outcome of a person’s actions. That is, it is a theory that concerns itself with consequences of an actor’s choice in a given situation rather than the actions in