Deontological ethics

Kant’s categorical imperative is an ethical rule, that does not depend on circumstances, whose job is to tell us who we are. My ethical philosophy based on Kant’s categorical imperative has always been to be happy and true to myself. My personal ethical maxim, on the other hand, has always been to be considerate and kind to those around me. I was taught since an early age Aristotle 's fairness philosophy, treating equals equally and unequals unequally. My parents and siblings taught me to…

What Kant is attempting to explain is if all the commonly accepted “good” things like health, wealth and friendship are really good, he asks under what conditions do these qualify as good things. He explains that all good things are not good under all circumstances. Nothing can be called good in this world with out qualification except Good Will which Kant says is the effort of rational beings to do what they ought to do rather then to act in self-interest. To better understand good will, when…

Utilitarianism and Kant’s deontological theory are both similar and conflicting in their own ways. The two proposals hold grounds that serve as foundational moral theories. Within utilitarianism, there is a way of quantifying pleasure and pain in order to apply the GHP. This group provides qualities of pleasure such as intensity, duration, certainty, and propinquity of pleasure. These qualities translate to how hard, how long, how reasonable, and how soon. Within ethical decision making these…

information involving the emission scandal (Viswanatha). Liang’s implementation of the software and the guilty plea and cooperation bring up questions of morality. Kant’s duty ethics will be used to determine the morality of each action while being compared to the views of rule utilitarianism. To further understand, duty ethics is built on four main…

In this paper, I will compare the argument Hume makes and Kant’s claim for the origin of moral motivation. First, I will look at the argument made by Hume, who argues that passion is the root of all moral motivation. Then, I will examine the claim made by Kant, who posits that reason is the origin of moral judgements. After showcasing both, I will compare the two. Finally, I will conclude by arguing that Hume’s argument for the origin of moral judgements is the stronger of the two. It is more…

Part i – Distributive Justice and Oppression What is distributive justice? (1-2) Distributive justice is the issue about what the appropriate principle should be that determines who has what. What is Robert Nozick’s “Entitlement Theory”? You may quote the principle, but you must explain how it addresses the issue of distributive justice. Be sure to explain how the entitlement theory addresses it. (5-6) Nozick's Entitlement Theory says that any distribution of holdings, no matter how unequal, is…

This paper will highlight Kant’s ethical theory that is presented in his book Foundations of a Metaphysic Morals. Kant wanted to establish an ethical system anyone can figure out regardless of sexual orientation, religion, race etc. Kant’s ethical “specialty” is deontology the study of duty. This paper explains want duty is, and all the other factors that goes along with this ideology. I will be presenting two different examples and explaining how Kant would approach the situation using his…

If realism is pessimism, then Hobbes’ remedy for the state of nature is a deeply pessimistic one. But, in all honesty, I would not agree with this statement because, while yes it is slightly pessimistic, I view it as seen from more of a realistic standpoint in that it is unbiased and what predominately happens in human life. In life, there are pessimistic events and optimistic events, mostly though, are the events that fall into a category that is neither pessimistic nor optimistic; as is…

Are humans being decent? Or do we act just because we have no choice? Well, that is the logic behind the famous story of the Ring of Gyges. The Ring of Gyges was a challenge poses by Glaucon to Socrates. Glaucon wanted to rend Socrates defenseless against injustice, and that was not only his intentions. He also wanted to demonstrate that justice is ruled by injustice, to such a great extend he proposed the following story ("Summary of Plato’s Ring of Gyges"). Gyges, a royal shepherd, found a…

In Immanuel Kant’s book, Grounding, and John Stuart Mill’s book, Utilitarianism, both philosophers have expressed their opinion regarding moral philosophy, and, more specifically, the importance and problems associated with moral philosophy. Kant believes that everyone has the innate ability to reason morally, but are driven away from moral reasoning by our desire for happiness. In contrast, Mill believes that people do not have the innate ability to reason morally, and therefore arises an issue…