Immanuel Kant

The Boys Club: Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Defiance Against Enlightenment Philosophers Writer and advocate for women's rights during the height of the Enlightenment period, Mary Wollstonecraft wrote several novels and articles highlighting the injustices women faced during the 18th century. While one of Mary Wollstonecraft's most notable pieces of writing, A Vindication of the Rights of Women, may seem to parallel Enlightenment philosopher ideals, it in fact, has no correlations. Mary…

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…

probed the self-thinking movement known as the age of enlightenment. The age of enlightenment was not about not questioning but finding out for yourself. A self-reflection from the time was, “Dare to know! Have courage to use your own reason” Immanuel Kant pegged this as the motto for the era. It was a new way of thinking and self-recognition for humans started by the natural philosophers and scientific minds of the time. An example of this higher way of thinking is evident in “The Declaration…

Adrift in an uncaring and meaningless universe, mankind only true solace is the radical freedom such an absurd existence provides. It is a shame that mankind chooses to use this freedom to construct silly epistemological arguments about morality as it relates to an outdated form of transportation, but human freedom has no limits but those we set upon ourselves. In that sense, the argument that the spelunkers on trial “had” to cannibalize one of their own in order to use their flesh to survive…

morally sound (102). Immanuel Kant, a well-known philosopher in the deontologist category, has a theory one could use to debate what action is morally right in this particular case. According to Kant’s theory, “all our duties, all the moral categorical imperatives, (what we should do in all situations, regardless of our wants and needs) can be logically derived from the categorical imperative” (103). When applying the categorical imperative, there are two versions needed to consider. Kant lists…

For many years there has been a debate between the opposing philosophical frameworks consequentialism and deontology. Some could argue that consequentialisms maxim of "the ends justify the means” as the determinant for a moral action may be inconsistent with other important aspects of value such as rights and allegiance. Others may argue that deontology is simply too restrictive and independent of the context in which it could be applied to. Although these two philosophical frameworks have…

Ethics are meant to help distinguish between what is right and what is wrong. There are many ethical theories that serve to provide a foundation on which people can find solutions to ethical and moral questions in life. Some examples of ethical theories are Utilitarianism, Kantian Ethics, and Natural Law Theory. I have my own personal ethical theory that I use to make ethical decisions, and some of the ethical theories that have been presented to me have had an impact on my personal theory.…

Masters of War’, included in the 1963 album ‘The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’, is not the usual antiwar and pacifist song, it is a strong condemnation of the people responsible for the atrocities of war and for the deaths and the blood that it brings, with particular reference to the Vietnam War. The lyrics to the song are powerful and unforgiving. It makes you feel the intensity of the times Dylan was living in and his opinion of those times are clearly noted in his song. In Masters of War, Dylan’s…

According to Kant, in his work The Good Will and The Categorical Imperative we should “act only in accordance with that maxim through which [we] can at the same time will that it became a natural law” (Kant 76). This statement suggests that people should behave in a way that can be imitated by everyone in the world without any terrible or undesirable effects…

The focus of this paper is on how to assign limited, life-saving treatments to a surplus of people in need. Sadly, there are many individuals who are currently suffering from diseases that are treatable. Although there are treatments for their diseases, they are often in limited supply; creating an important ethical dilemma which must be considered. While deciding who should receive the treatments may seem easy on the surface, two major ethical questions must be answered first: who should be…