Hypothetical imperative

Which action is morally acceptable? Kant uses his categorical imperative to make such decisions. It says, “Act as though the maxim your action were to become, through your will, a universal law of nature” (Kant). Meaning the action we are choosing to do, everyone, everywhere would do as well. He also says that humans…

Mill and Kant Kant and Mill are two philosophers with differing ethical theories. The crux of the disagreement between these two philosophers is that they both disagree on the methods by which we should derive moral rules and guidelines. Specifically, which guidelines we should use in deciding what is ethical, and which justifications we should use for the evaluating moral value of actions? Kant’s deontological theory attempts to answer these questions through a sound reason based approach. The…

My thoughts about this Ethics course before taking it isn’t the same as the thoughts I have about it now from actually being at the end of the course period. I would’ve never knew how much depth it has and how important it is to living beings. Ethics tends to be underestimated and overlooked because people might think it’s unnecessary to study moral standards because they believe people learn from their own culture and society. But how do anyone know if their culture is right? How do anyone know…

Absolute moral rules mean the rules that everyone must follow in order to act morally. They are the rules that hold under any circumstances universally. I think the best candidates of absolute moral rules are a) We should never lie and b) We should never kill innocent people. There are strong arguments for candidate a) We should never lie. Kant is a philosopher who thought there are absolute moral rules in the world. He thought that never lying is one of the absolute moral rules, and he offered…

An old proverb says, "Honesty is the best policy." I agree that honesty is a great policy, but not the best one for me. In my opinion, the best policy is justice, justice is the father (root) of honesty and respect; However, honesty doesn't stop being a great policy too. I agree with being honest even though it can hurt a person's feelings, but is not mine or anybodies' fault that the person gets hurt, they get hurt themselves by not admitting the truth or because they don't like it, so I still…

In contemporary philosophical debate, there are hardly any concepts that congregate common agreements as the Justice as Fairness. The moral philosophers-from utilitarians to Kantians-, acknowledged that justice and equality are morally demanded. The contemporary philosophical perspectives on this debate will be referred to the principle of Rawl’s theory of Justice as Fairness. John Rawls has, in miscellaneous works and in his book A Theory of Justice (Harvard University Press, 1971) protected…

In the case of morals, philosophers are usually separated into one of two categories, those who consider actions ethical or not ethical based on their motives, and those who consider an action ethical or not ethical based on the consequences of these actions. Immanuel Kant is a deontologist as opposed to consequentialists, making him an advocate for the former category. Kant is of the opinion that we are held responsible for our actions because we possess the ability to consider and explain…

Kant’s Categorical Imperative concentrates more on our intentions. According to Mill’s Principle, Pat should not tell Chris that she cheated, because it would create more pain than pleasure. The pain that Chris would feel after finding out he was cheated on and the pain Pat would feel after being broken up with outweighs the happiness/pleasures of them both, so according to Mill, telling Chris would not be a morally permissible action. According to Kant’s Categorical Imperative,…

Small Lies Can Save Lives Christine Korsgaard, a prominent moral philosopher, is well known for her refutation of Immanuel Kant’s idea of The Categorical Imperative, in which he states that the truth must be presented at all times. Her writing focuses on the moral implications that arise when a person interacts with individuals that possess an evil nature. The purpose of this paper is to address the concept of Korsgaard’s Murderer at the Door scenario, as well as argue that there are other…

In his collection of essays On the Genealogy of Morality, Nietzsche distinguishes between the moral systems of good/bad and good/evil and describes their origins, as well as problems that arise with the origins of good/evil in order to analyze two different moral systems and their implications. Nietzsche first distinguishes between the two moral systems of good/bad and good/evil in order to draw a contrast. Good/bad is defined as those with power and those without power: the good, like the…